'Lorain County Beautiful Day' community cleanup is Saturday

Lorain County will be cleaning up and planting new on Saturday for the annual "Lorain County Beautiful Day." Countywide beautification efforts will include litter cleanup, gardening, graffiti cleanup, painting and beach cleanup throughout the morning and early afternoon, sponsored by the county Solid Waste Management District. Scouting troops, church groups, community organizations and other volunteers plan cleanup and beautification events with support from county government including supplies. For one day only on "Lorain County Beautiful Day" — always the third Saturday in May — the Lorain County Collection Center at 540 S. Abbe Road in Elyria will be accepting appliances that contain freon from 9 a.m. to 1 p.m. Saturday. Those include air conditioners, refrigerators and mini fridges, freezers and dehumidifiers. The appliance round-up and shredding event will include a drive-through-and-drop-off for appliances and an on-site shredding truck. Hot dogs will be served from 11 a.m. to 1 p.m. The county is providing supplies like garbage bags, litter pickers and buckets. Supply pick-up for volunteer groups is 9:30 to 11:30 a.m. Thursday at the county Collection Center. Coffee and donuts will be served. For more information on how to find projects or to volunteer call Brandi Schnell, outreach coordinator for the county Solid Waste Management District, at (440) 328-2249, (440) 420-6445 or email her at bschnell@loraincounty.us. "Since COVID, our numbers have gone down, but we've slowly but surely gotten more volunteers that have come back on board so that's been good," Schnell said. Other communities are taking part or hosting their own cleanup or environmental awareness events: Avon Lake The city will be hosting a community shredding and "E-cycle" day from 9 a.m to 1 p.m. at the Ellen Trivanovich Aquatic Center, 32850 Electric Blvd. Two shred trucks will be on hand to help securely dispose of sensitive documents. Each household may bring up to five standard-size copy paper boxes or five grocery-sized bags of personal, confidential documents. Small electronics including cable and receiver boxes, cassette tapes and players, CDs and players, cell phones and accessories, Christmas lights and desktop/laptop/tablet computers and accessories also will be accepted for recycling. TVs, microwaves, large speakers, servers, network hardware and home theater equipment will not be accepted. Elyria For residents who want to take part, events start at 9 a.m. Saturday at Ely Square. Volunteers have typically met there first in the past, Schnell said. North Ridgeville Residents or organizations interested in taking part should call Kevin Fougerousse at (440) 490-2051 or email him at kfougerousse@nridgeville.gov. Oberlin "Keep Oberlin Beautiful Day" will be from 9 a.m. to noon Saturday with cleanup and flower planting throughout the city. A dumpster for extra waste will be at the Park Street Park, 40 S. Park St., and a tire and Styrofoam drop-off site at the glass recycling site at 505 Hill Creek Drive. For volunteer opportunities in Oberlin, call Recycling Coordinator Lori Sprosty at (440) 935-0096 or email recycling@cityofoberlin.com. Contact Dave O'Brien at (440) 329-7129 or dobrien@chroniclet.com