The City of Manhattan launched its annual Spring Cleanup this week, an initiative that benefits both the Little Apple and its residents, Vivienne Leyva, public information officer for Riley County, said. 

“It started as a way to keep debris out of the storm sewer system, so leaves, and sticks and branches, and also help beautify the city,” Leyva said. “As people are getting their yards ready for the spring season and they’ve got piles of brush, or extra leaves or things that they’re doing to clean up their house and their property, we found that this is a great way to help them get things to the transfer station.”

Spring Cleanup, offered April 6-10, allows people without easy access or transportation a way to dispose of waste properly.

“We’re spending one day in each neighborhood and city crews go around and pick up items that are at the curb,” Leyva said. “… We ask people to either stack limbs or put bags of leaves and grass clippings — that kind of thing that would go in those big paper lawn and yard bags — to put that out at the curb by 7 a.m. on the day that they’re scheduled for pickup.”

Spring Cleanup benefits Manhattan both visually and environmentally, Leyva said, as organic debris poses other risks.

“In addition to stormwater benefits, it helps [with] keeping bugs and pests away, and it also provides some fire safety,” she said. “One of the things that we ask people to do for wildfire safety inside the city and also across the county is clean up that dry debris, the leaves in your gutters, the things around the house that, should the worst happen, would present a fire hazard.”

Leyva said the city will take any debris that’s compostable.

“We will not pick up construction debris, household trash, appliances and other things that people might need to get rid of, but that’s really something they’re going to either need to work out with their trash hauler or that they can take to the transfer station on their own,” she said. “The stuff that we are picking up is either going to the burn pile or the compost pile at the transfer station, so it really just needs to be organic material.”

Though Spring Cleanup wraps up April 10, Leyva said residents can always bring organic waste to the Riley County Transfer Station at 1881 Henton Rd. 

“They’re open Monday through Saturday from 7 a.m. to 5 p.m., and it’s a nice way, if you’ve got grass clippings or leaves or any of that stuff, you can put it on the compost pile.”