Changes coming for yard waste collection

Residents to get carts for automated collection

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BROOKINGS – The Brookings City Council on Tuesday learned about upcoming changes to the city’s yard waste program, which include automating collection with residents switching to plastic carts instead of paper bags for their refuse.

Todd Langland, director of solid waste, gave presentations at the council’s study session on the yard waste and recycling programs.

The yard waste program started in 1994, and the city sold 25,000 yard waste bags that year, Langland said.

Now, the bags are sold at seven local businesses and total an average of 67,000 bags each year, he said. A lot of that is due to the growth of the community.

One of the program improvements is employee safety, Langland said. 

“The idea is to get our employees off the back of the garbage truck,” he said.

There are about 100,000 solid waste workers across the country, he said. 

“Last year alone, I think there was 35 deaths across the United States,” he said, adding the deaths were related to the trucks. 

The city will provide residents with the 95-gallon carts and do the maintenance, which is usually replacing wheels and lids, Langland said. The workers carry wheels in the trucks to do on-the-spot repairs. 

The carts will protect the yard waste from the weather; the bags tend to get soggy in rain, Langland said.

The carts will be a cost-savings to residents, he said, adding people use on average 12 bags per home. 

People have worried about having three carts, including those for garbage and recycling, he said. It’s a seasonal program, so the yard waste cart will be used seven to eight months annually and it can be stored out of the way the rest of the time. 

“I’ve also found out with our community, our residents adapt really well to changes. I mean, we’re really fortunate that way,” Langland said. 

Funding for the cost of the carts will come from collection fund reserves, he said.

Grass, leaves, small tree branches and garden waste can go in the carts, Langland said. 

The carts cost $59.50; 3,965 carts cost $235,931. No yard bags will be bought, resulting in a savings of $32,340, but a lost revenue totaling $15,000 in 2020, he said.

Yard waste goes through the compost screener, and the process takes about 18 months, Langland said. 

“It’s all natural, it’s all Mother Nature,” he said. Rain helps and workers turn it every month or so. The finished product goes into flower beds and raised gardens. It helps grow grass, especially when mixed with black dirt, Langland said. Landscapers like using it. When the hospital was doing construction, it wanted 50% compost material, he said.

All that use contributes to sustainability, and the compost is free for residents, just to pick it up, Langland said.

He plans to move the compost site closer to the park shop area so the site can be monitored better. The target date is April.

Councilor comments 

Councilor Dan Hansen asked what difference the new system would make in people-hours. 

The yard bag system entails a lot of overtime hours, Langland said. Monday and Tuesday routes are a lot heavier because they follow the weekend. 

“I would think you’ll see a significant savings not only in labor, but probably in fuel,” Langland said. 

Hansen is interested to see the numbers and what a difference it will make to have workers not getting all that overtime or being able to accomplish other things with their time. 

Briseno asked how long the carts last. 

The carts they use now have a 10-year warranty, Langland said. 

“We have some out there almost 16 years old. They’re really durable,” Langland said. They hold up really well in cold weather, too, adding they only crack two or three in the winter.

“That’s amazing,” Briseno said, adding some communities where he’s been, they’ve had to change out carts every four to six years. 

Briseno noted as the town grows, so do the routes and the equipment needed to cover the areas.

“We currently have five automated trucks and five personnel,” Langland said, and he wants to add trucks in the near future.

Councilor Holly Tilton Byrne asked how many bags of waste the lawn carts will hold, and Langland said three is what they’ve been told. 

When the site for the yard waste is set up in a central location, the city will publicize it, Briseno said.

Recycling

Brookings recycled 879.58 tons of material from residents, 1,562 tons of wood/trees, 66 tons of tires, and 218 tons of metal in the past year, Langland told the council.

The tree pile is ground up and is delivered to POET, the ethanol plant in Chancellor “and they use it to burn for extra fuel. And they’ve been doing this for about 10 years and they’re saving over 50% of their natural gas bill,” he said, adding all the landfills in the state grind up wood.

Usually people leave used tires at the tire dealership, but the number is high this year because the South Dakota Department of Environment and Natural Resources got about 45 tons from a location in the Bruce area, where they had piles of tires, Langland said. 

Metal includes appliances like stoves and refrigerators, but the fridges have to be put off to the side and have the freon drained and “every refrigerator’s serial number has to be logged” and sent to the state, Langland said.

Plastic bags 

Langland visited the Cook’s Wastepaper and Recycling facility last Thursday to check on the number of plastic bags that make it into the recycling stream since announcing that they’re no longer accepted in recycling. 

He said there’s a “significant difference … and I think it’ll just gradually do better; we’re just into this about three weeks.

“This community has always responded to changes,” Langland said.

They’ll continue to monitor the situation, but already see a huge decrease in plastic bags, he said, adding that due to that sharp decrease, there will be no fines against the city. 

“According to them, we do an excellent job,” Langland said.

Millennium Recycling, which takes the recycling that Cook’s picks up, does business in a 400-mile radius around Sioux Falls, he said.

Councilor Leah Brink asked if it was Millennium’s change in regulations that led to the plastic bags being refused in the recycling stream.

“It was not only Millennium, though; it was an industry change, across the whole United States,” Langland said. 

Brink asked how and when Brookings would be notified of any future changes. It would be Millennium because they must uphold the industry standards, Langland said. And it should be a 90-day notice.

“Things are constantly changing,” Briseno said, noting there are new changes to the glass rules. 

There are more outlets for glass again, Langland said. They are taking all glass, no matter what color it is.

There is a facility in Kansas that takes glass, melts it down and turns it into fiber insulation, he said.

Contact Jodelle Greiner at jgreiner@brookingsregister.com.