Surrey residents get rid of junk in their trunks at Pop-Up Junk Day
Bicycles, microwaves, old dressers, mattresses and just plain old garbage — it all came by the car and truckload Saturday for Pop-Up Junk Day.
Pop-Up Junk Day happens six times a year and is an opportunity for residents to save on disposal fees and for the City to cut down on illegal dumping.
"It used to be $500,000 ten years ago. Now it's a million dollars a year," said operations manager Rob Costanzo describing the cost of illegal dumping to the city.
"We're looking at these sort of events to take a chunk out of illegal dumping."
Costanzo says illegal dumping in Surrey is especially prevalent in the northwestern part of the city.
He says there's no one place to take everything to be disposed of and Surrey is a geographically large city so properly disposing of junk can be inconvenient. The cost of disposal has also doubled over the last decade.
Saturday's was the fourth Pop-Up Junk Day Surrey held in 2016, the first year the City has tried out the idea.
Costanzo says early signs are promising.
"We are seeing it dissipate in areas where it would typically be heavy," he said, adding a final analysis would take place in October.
The City estimates about 70 per cent of the junk dropped off will be recycled or reused. The rest is taken to the landfill.
With as many as 2,500 vehicles driving in and out throughout the day, the City is calling the event a success.
So are residents like John Schneider, who says he's feeling a big weight lifted off his shoulders after this trip.
"I can be good for another three, four years," he said.
Two more Pop-Up Junk days are planned for 2016: Sept. 17 and Oct. 1.
With files from Kamil Karamali
