BEATRICE – This year’s annual Beatrice Clean-City large item pick-up campaign was finishing up on Wednesday.  It’s a free program in its 35th year where residents can have large items hauled away from curbside. City Street Superintendent Jason Moore says the program is down about 20-percent this year, from last….and there’s still some locations that cannot be picked up by city crews.


"It does remain strong. I believe we were a little over eleven-hundred stops...550 on Monday, which is always our biggest day....and then we were in the mid-300s and high 200s. We continue to see a lot of items that can't be put out...we did find more boxes that had diapers in them. We even put a statement on the website this year when you register, to look at the items you cannot put out."


Items on the prohibited list include boxes, bags, clothing, bedding and mattresses. Items not adhering to the rules were left at curbside.


Loaders and dump trucks were covering areas of east and southeast Beatrice on the final day of the sweep.  Residents had to pre-register for the program, with the rules listed on the city’s website.


Moore said there will be a few locations that were missed, that will be picked up on Thursday. Preregistration for the annual event is always important.
"We try to help, to an extent, but again...if you are going to have a deadline and you have to be in, before this date....my guys can't be out on the road going past one address because it wasn't registered....only to come back to it at the end of the day. You have to be held responsible for your site."


Moore says sometimes a problem crops up with homes that are on a corner, where residents may have provided the wrong street address.


Residents could bring old mattresses to the Beatrice Landfill to dispose of them in large dumpsters. The mattress drop-off, Moore says….appears to have numbers similar or slightly lower than last year.