St. Paul has a complicated relationship with garbage.
St. Paul has endured nine solid months of trash writing and trash fighting, ever since the city organized its waste hauling system.
And on a beautiful sunny Saturday, a thousand St. Paul residents converged on the State Fairgrounds, looking to solid waste the morning.
Four times a year, the city organizes drop-offs so residents can dump or recycle bulky waste responsibly. This was the first drop-off of the year, and dozens of volunteers were on hand to help wrestle junk out of trunks and divert useful things away from the dumpsters and off to donation or repair.
"There's a kind of positive spirit to an event like this," said Aubrey Fonfara, an environmental program specialist for the city of St. Paul, looking around at the bustling site.
For six straight hours, vehicles rolled in, loaded with lumpy mattresses, rusty bicycles, rubble from home improvement projects, ugly couches and broken snowblowers.
And for six straight hours, people in St. Paul smiled when they talked about garbage.