Times Observer file photo Volunteers at Tidioute wrap up a day of the 2021 Allegheny River Cleanup operation. A metal recycling dumpster is now available at AutoZone in North Warren. Funds raised from the recycling will directly benefit the annual Cleanup effort.

If pulling various and sundry kinds of garbage out of the Allegheny River isn’t your thing, there’s another way to get involved in the annual Allegheny River Cleanup.

This year’s cleanup event will start Thursday, Sept. 14 and run through Saturday, Sept. 16.

But, until then, the Cleanup’s metal recycling dumpster will be located at AutoZone in North Warren.

Use of the dumpster is open to the public, though organizers ask that no garbage, tires, batteries or electronics be dropped off.

“The annual River and Reservoir Cleanups are led by a planning committee made up of volunteers from various local agencies and businesses,” Nate Welker, a member of the cleanup’s planning committee, said. “There are no fixed funding sources.”

“The cleanup, now in its 15th year, has been and continues to be entirely funded through the generous donations of our wonderful sponsors and through the personal efforts of our amazing volunteers.”

Metal recycling is another way to support funding the cleanup.

“100% of the money we make from recycling the metal, collected from the river and donated via the dumpster, goes directly back into making the Allegheny River and Reservoir cleaner and safer places for the people and wildlife who use them,” Welker said.

A total of 205 volunteers removed 5,180 pounds of recyclable metal, 38 tires and 32 cubic yards of the trash from the river during last year’s cleanup.

More than 42,500 voluneer hours have gone to the effort since 2005.

The stretch of the river that will be the focus of this year’s cleanup stretches from the city of Warren to Tidioute.