36 tons of junk, and dozens turned away: Modesto disposal event has city seeking more

They came in cars, pickup trucks and even moving vans to John Thurman Field on Saturday to discard their busted couches, unwanted TVs, broken laptops and other household detritus at no cost.

Modesto’s first “drive up and drop off” event was a huge success, with Bertolotti Disposal — one of the city’s trash haulers — hauling off about 36 tons of bulky items and trash, said city spokesman Andrew Gonzales. Residents also dropped off 248 mattresses and box springs, which a recycler will process.

“They had a lot of stuff to drop off,” Gonzales said.

The number of televisions, printers, laptops and other electronics was not available. They are being processed by another recycler.

Gonzales said 336 vehicles dropped off furniture, washers and dryers, TVs and other items in the parking lot at John Thurman Field, the city’s ballpark in west Modesto.

He said the event was scheduled from 8 to noon, and the city and Caltrans — one of the city’s event partners — extended it to 2:30 p.m. but still had to turn away 70 vehicles.

The event was for Modesto households, with a focus on residents of apartments and other multifamily housing, which city officials have said can be a source of a lot of the illegal dumping of household items.

Unlike it does for residents of single-family homes — who can leave furniture, appliances and similar items at their curbs twice a year for pickup — Modesto does not offer a bulky item pickup program for residents of multifamily housing. But city officials are working on starting one next year.

Gonzales said the California Department of Transportation paid for Saturday’s event, and Modesto will ask Caltrans to fund more of them. He said the city does not have the funding to pay for these events.

Modesto Bee photographer Andy Alfaro contributed to this report.