Hibbing residents showed up in a big way during this year’s third annual Community Clean-Up on June 6 & 7 — and the numbers prove it!
Total Collected:
2023: 45.78 tons (91,560 pounds)
2024: 45.76 tons (91,520 pounds)
2025: 70.71 tons (141,420 pounds)
That’s a 25-ton increase over last year — a true testament to Hibbing’s growing commitment to keeping our city clean, safe, and beautiful.
At last week’s council workshop, Deputy Police Chief Tyler Schwerzler said the overall event was highly successful, including having an increased number of volunteers this year.
“This was one of the times we’ve seen people outside of public officials coming to volunteer,” he said while also mentioning groups from Walmart, the Greenhaven area and others. “… This helped make it a very, very successful event and I actually enjoyed doing it.”
The amount collected came as a shock, said Schwerzler. He went on to share a story about a resident who, with assistance in coordinating a special drop-off with the county, was able to unload a massive amount of tires. The numbers of mattress dropped off this year was also impressive.
“We took in a lot of people’s stuff, and we had people come in multiple times,” he added.
Mayor Pete Hyduke and Councilor Chris Whitney assisted during the event. Hyduke said his favorite part was seeing neighbors helping neighbors haul items and knowing that a blighted property was being cleaned up.
“It truly makes a difference,” added Hyduke. “The days went fast, and I found a couple of things that my wife now has in her garden. It made her day. Someone’s trash is another person’s delight.”
Schwerzler recommended hosting Community Clean-up Days in the future as a cost-effective way to reduce blight and maintain neighborhood cleanliness. It underscores that this event is more efficient than reactive clean-ups of severely neglected properties.
“The overall cost of this is basically cheaper than cleaning up one or two actual blighted properties,” he told the council. “This event is about $6,000 to $7,000 out of pocket including City Services and other things, and you’re looking at $11,000 to $12,000 for a blighted property clean-up. Again, the amount of items we’re able to throw away (during Community Clean-up) is astronomical.”
