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Keep Polk County Beautiful reports 417,660 pounds of trash, 10,187 tires removed in 2024–25 season
Summary
Katie Hayes said Keep Polk County Beautiful collected 417,660 pounds of curbside garbage and 10,187 tires during the 2024–25 cleanup season and described partnerships with waste haulers, the sheriff’s office, schools and community groups. The program will place two wrapped recycling collection dumpsters at the landfill and pursue targeted cleanups in multiple neighborhoods.
Katie Hayes, director of Keep Polk County Beautiful, told the Polk County Board of County Commissioners that the nonprofit collected 417,660 pounds of curbside garbage and 10,187 tires during the 2024–25 cleanup season. She described curbside pickups for construction and illegal-dump items, tire-recycling events, and donated haul services from local haulers.
"We collected 417,660 pounds of garbage curbside and 10,187 tires," Hayes said, and she walked commissioners through maps of targeted neighborhoods and seasonal event totals. Hayes listed partnerships with Polk County Sheriff’s Office, code enforcement, GFL, Waste Management and other haulers that donated curbside pickup and dumpsters, and detailed outreach via bilingual flyers, school communications and Polk alert notifications.
Hayes also described special projects this year, including an art-wrapping contest with Polk County Solid Waste and Polk County Public Schools; two dumpsters at the landfill will be wrapped with students’ winning designs and a ribbon-cutting is planned. Commissioners thanked Hayes for the program and asked about possible expansion of staffed recycling ("green box") locations; staff said the board will workshop whether to pursue one or more staffed, secure collection sites in the county.
The presentation gave commissioners a seasonal inventory of pickups (by event) and emphasized coordination with county departments and volunteer groups to address illegal dumping and neighborhood cleanups. Hayes closed by thanking the sheriff’s office, weekend work-release program and county staff for supporting the effort.
