Wakefield city, township hold joint clean-up effort

JOSH SCHNECK uses a donated mini-excavator to remove tires from the woods and pile them in back of the trailer he and his dad, Les, donated for an early clean-up effort Wednesday. Today and Saturday are the scheduled spring clean-up days for the city of Wakefield and Wakefield Township. A total of 47 tires, couches, mattresses and other pieces of junk were removed from a stretch of M-28 by the volunteers.

By IAN MINIELLY iminielly@yourdailyglobe.com WAKEFIELD TOWNSHIP — Today begins the first joint Wakefield Township-city of Wakefield clean-up. It includes tires and other refuse. The clean-up day is available to township and city residents only and no commercial businesses, according to John Cox, township supervisor. The Michigan Department of Environmental Quality provided a grant to the township and city for tire removal. Cox said he expects 3,000 tires to get dropped off and eight Dumpster loads of other waste to get removed. There is a limit of 10 tires per load and tires with rims cost $5. Today’s clean-up runs from 9 a.m. to 4 p.m. Saturday’s clean-up lasts from 9 a.m. to noon. The drop-off location for turning in refuse and tires is the Western U.P. Recycling Center, located in the Wakefield Township Industrial Park. On Wednesday, a group of township residents got started early with the township’s cleanup, clearing a mile of Old M-28 of an assortment of waste. According to Cox, 47 tires were pulled off the side of the road, off the woodline, as well as a large pile of couches, chairs, mattresses, toys and other junk. Joe Hilborn allowed the group to store the debris at the Western U.P. Recycling Center temporarily, while Barry Bolich made a monetary donation and cooked chow for the group in support of the early clean-up effort. Chris Lake, Josh and Les Schneck and Nick Lake donated their time and equipment for the early clean-up of Old M-28. Wakefield Township has held a spring clean-up since 2007.