CLINTON — If you want to talk trash, the tide has turned.

Volunteers with this year’s Hearts & Hammers work day said they seemed to have a great grip on garbage this year, from the inside out.

At least, that was the scene at Island Asphalt on Midvale Road on Saturday, as a crew of volunteers worked to sort recyclables and trash coming from a record number of homesites that were spruced up during the annual work blitz.

Janet Hall, the Waste Wise Coordinator for the WSU-Island County Extension, said the drop-off in debris became noticeable early on.

“It’s definitely less garbage than we’ve had the past couple of years,” Hall said.

Usually, the clean-up day ends with six massive trash containers packed and filled to the brim.

“This year, I only had one garbage dumpster full,” she said.

And the container that’s filled with wood waste — typically torn-apart decks, doors and other housing material — was only “kind of full.”

“We definitely got less garbage,” she said.

Now in its 18th year, Hearts & Hammers makes needed repairs to homes whose owners are financially or physically unable to do the work themselves. This go-round,

the nonprofit sent more than 500 volunteers to 53 work sites across the South End.

Jim Scullin, president of Hearts & Hammers, said workers tackled a variety of projects this year, from rebuilding decks to cleaning up overgrown yards.

“When we do any of these things, health and safety is the principal criteria,” Scullin said.

One thing that always impresses him is the impact the volunteer day has not only on those who get a helping hand, but those who are lending it. Scullin said he’s struck by the volunteers who, at the end of the day, are grateful for having the chance to do something worthwhile.

“It isn’t so much about fixing homes as providing the people in the community the opportunity to help their neighbors,” he said.

Bob Dalton, a Hearts & Hammers board member, said spirits remained high despite the torrential downpour that drenched volunteers — those not working in Clinton, at least. He said it was the wettest day in the work day’s history.

“But you know, most of the people all got it done and trudged through it, like the true Pacific Northwesterners we are,” Dalton said.

While this year’s amount of garbage was nowhere near the tipping point, organizers said it was good news for homeowners, Hearts

& Hammers and Island Disposal — a partner in the clean-up effort.

Island Disposal, the company that carts away the trash at no charge to Hearts & Hammers, had less to haul away at the end of the day.

Hall praised the assistance from Island Disposal, as well as the help from Island Recycling in Freeland, which takes the scrap metal collected during the work day.

Other material, such as soda cans, glass and cardboard, is also recycled. This year’s tally included six bags filled with aluminum cans, three bags of plastic material, two small pickup truck loads of cardboard and three bags of clothing material that will be donated to charity.

Yard waste is also collected and taken to the Langley wastewater treatment plant, where it’s turned into compost for South End gardens.

Other items brought in Saturday that weren’t destined for the dump were taken to island thrift stores — things like a beautiful indoor bench, Hall said, plus a trunk and other household items.

And then there was the big fiberglass boat that came in.

“Which I was freaking out about a little,” Hall said.

Thankfully, a volunteer offered to take it.

“So it got reused, which we love to see,” she said.

Hall praised her group of more than a dozen that sorted through the mass of material. Kudos also go to Curt Gordon, she said, for donating the use of Island Asphalt’s parking lot for the debris collection effort, and to Island County for waiving fees at the landfill.

Some of the debris dropped off in Clinton required a deft touch, such as the large amount of half-filled paint cans, rusty aerosol bottles and other potentially hazardous material, not to mention the rat that jumped out of one of the loads of garbage.

Hall said the recycling effort didn’t stop at the collection yard.

This year, at the day’s end dinner for volunteers in the commons at South Whidbey High School, Hearts & Hammers decided to use compostable dinner plates and other items to cut down on the amount of trash.

After a dinner that fed more than 300 people, there was only 26 pounds of garbage to be taken away.

Hall recalled the reaction of the custodian helping out at the high school: “The janitor was like, ‘Wow, I have hardly any garbage!’”