Delta's annual spring clean-up program is back — and with it, a sense of community

The sun had barely washed across lawns in the Sunshine Hills neighbourhood of Delta, B.C., on Wednesday when piles of riches appeared for the taking.

In front of one rancher, an old barbecue and four-piece set of patio chairs were piled next to a gently used treadmill. Nearby, a mountain of faded children's toys was heaped at the end of one family's driveway.

Cat hotels, wheelbarrows, bedroom furniture and a hot pink bike all lined the street, waiting for the neighbourhood garbage man or treasure hunter — whoever got there first.

Early bird thrifters drove slowly from house to house, sifting quietly through the goods. One made off with three lawn mowers strapped to the roof of his minivan.

After a two-year pause on the Delta Spring Clean-Up program, residents across the city were once again able to discard unwanted household goods — items that could be treasure for neighbours and wide-eyed children finding prizes on the way to and from school. 

For Lori Mayhew, the program's return means she can walk through their garage again.

"There was a path to the deep freeze and a path to the door to the backyard and a lot of junk in between," said Mayhew, recalling the recent state of the single-car garage in her 1960s rancher near Delview Secondary School.

"It really was bursting at the seams."

The program, which returned for four days over the last two weeks, invites households to leave a truckload's worth of items curbside once a year to be collected for free.

According to the program website, people can leave large and bulky items like luggage and patio umbrellas, furniture like couches, bed frames and book shelves, metal items like washing machines and recyclable scrap metal for the city to pick up.

"There are a number of people that are out there looking and picking things that they can use, whether it's desks, furniture or other items," said Delta Mayor George Harvie.

"We pick it up for no charge so there is no excuse for illegal dumping," said Harvie. "This allows people to recycle, re-purpose and reuse."

The Mayhews' garage had been stuffed with four-foot-high piles of broken furniture, musty books, tension rods for shower curtains and any other kind of bits and bobs one could imagine. They spent an entire day lugging old belongings to the end of their driveway.

"The house feels lighter, the garage is organized and it is really exciting because there's also that opportunity to recycle stuff — sometimes it's in good condition and you just don't want it anymore," she said. "It's a fabulous thing that happens in our community."

Diverting waste

For Barry Hartman, the annual clean-up is a chance for residents to help reduce materials going to the landfill.

Hartman is the founder and CEO of 505 Junk — a waste management company that helps recycle large discarded items like mattresses and refrigerators that the city won't accept. 

"A lot of the items we picked up were electronics, metal products, mattresses, box springs and other furniture products," said Hartman.

He said the company started receiving calls from residents in Delta a few days after the annual clean-up program.

"We ended up actually picking up about eight truckloads of stuff throughout the city," he said, adding that most residents called to have their construction waste, like drywall and steel studs, picked up and recycled.

The decades-old program, which began in the '60s, was cancelled because of pandemic-related concerns over the last two years. It is the only one left of its kind in Metro Vancouver and aims to curb illegal dumping of household items in the city.

"The material we are recycling really doesn't decompose well, so it's going to sit in the landfill for 20, 30, 50 or more years," he said.

Harvie said the program's return brought the community back together.

"When my kids were very young, we used to put things out but we'd end up with more things coming back," he recalled.

"Especially coming out of COVID, it was so great to see people out there in the neighbourhood talking to their neighbours."