PITTSFIELD, Mass. - Tuesday marked the third annual "Xtraordinary Day" in Pittsfield. More than 150 volunteers came together to help revitalize the city’s West Side.

What You Need To Know

  • "Xtraordinary Day" is a neighborhood revitalization program sponsored by Berkshire Bank

  • The community cleanup event came about in 2020 during the pandemic in an effort to inspire community development and support local neighborhoods

  • The Central Berkshire Habitat for Humanity also offered mattress recycling on Tuesday through a new partnership with Fitchburg-based Tough Stuff Recycling
  • On November 1, 2022, MassDEP added mattresses and textiles to the list of materials banned from disposal or transport for disposal in Massachusetts

“It's really been a labor of love and it is every year," said Carolyn Valli, CEO of Central Berkshire Habitat for Humanity. "It's one of the big events that we look forward to. It's like coming home and seeing friends and family every time Berkshire Bank and Habitat and our partners get together. And what we love most about it is the residents are working alongside us, making this all happen.” 

Valli said the services offered on Tuesday came from feedback on what residents wanted to see in their neighborhood. Teams broke out for trash cleanup, gardening and raising the walls on two new houses being built.

“What we all know here in the Berkshires is housing is at a crisis and low to moderate income families are feeling that hit even more than others," Valli said. "So, we really want to do everything we can to make every neighborhood a neighborhood that folks would want to live in, and also to make housing affordable for homeownership and wealth generation for all people.”

Tuesday also marks the beginning of a partnership between Central Berkshire Habitat for Humanity and Tough Stuff Recycling, which has been working with the City of Pittsfield to recycle mattresses for about a year.

“The biggest thing that we're doing today is a mattress recycling," Valli said. "So, it's a one-day only event where people in the West Side in Morningside can drop off their mattresses for only $5, which is a $50 difference per piece.”

“We had this great opportunity to work with Habitat for Humanity and getting mattresses that would otherwise be illegally dumped in a little beautiful little neighborhood," Tough Stuff's Rodney Clara said. "So, we came out here, we set up a collection of it with our recycling team.”

Clara said 75% to 80% of a mattress is recyclable, and the Fitchburg-based recycling center is working to support communities across the state.

“They don't get landfill, which is great because in November 2022, the state banned mattresses from going to landfill," Clara said. "They have to be recycled and we get to do that for the City of Pittsfield and for Habitat for Humanity.”

Clara said Tough Stuff has recycled about 90,000 mattresses in Massachusetts to date.