Decluttering is often coupled with the beginning of the school year as students move into new homes off campus. Across the train tracks on Atkinson Avenue, a pile of discarded furniture such as mattresses, bed frames and lounge chairs sat on the curb.
That’s until Josh Huskey with the town of Elon public works department came by to haul it off to the Alamance County Landfill. The town of Elon will pick up half a truck load worth of garbage for free. After that, people have to pay $25 per cubic yard of waste. Because of the size of the pile, Atkinson Avenue residents had to pay a fee.
Students living off campus were emailed these rules and others by the dean of students before the academic year began. Despite this, Huskey said he regularly does pick ups like this.
He said he likes the work and helping people declutter, but he wants them to help make the process more efficient in return.
“When the piles are more compact and neat, they’re a whole lot easier for us to get up. It saves us a lot of time,” Huskey said. “Because normally if it's a neat pile, we can get it in about one scoop and get it on the truck. If we have to get off the truck and start loading stuff by hand, it takes more time.”