Clayton County is considering offering residents an easy way to get rid of household junk in “trash amnesty” days.

The south metro Atlanta community may decide next week whether to make March 11 and 12 and March 18 and 19 “amnesty” days so residents can bring large waste such as unwanted refrigerators, stoves and furniture to dumpsters in each of the county’s districts.

The disposal would be free to all residents and other items may be included when a final agreement in reached, Clayton CFO Detrick Stanford said during a county commission meeting on Tuesday. Paint and chemicals will not be accepted.

The move is an attempt to clean roadside debris and trash that some complain has inundated the county and impacted its ability to attract business and economic development.

Stanford said leaders are trying to determine how many dumpsters are needed and whether to allow residents to take items directly to the landfill during the amnesty free of charge to maximize trash removal.

The proposal is expected to be voted on at the commission’s Feb. 15 meeting.

“If we want businesses to come to our community, we’ve got to start keeping it clean,” said Commissioner Alieka Anderson, a sponsor of the amnesty initiative. “No one is going to come to a dirty community.”

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The renovation of Jekyll Island's Great Dunes golf course includes nine holes designed by Walter Travis in the 1920s for the members of the Jekyll Island Club. Several holes that were part of the original layout where located along the beach and were bulldozed in the 1950s.(Photo by Austin Kaseman)

Credit: Photo by Austin Kaseman