Green Waste-Ask the City

Question:

Is it possible for the city to put out the green waste dumpster's before April 25th? I'm cleaning up my yard and would rather put my leaves and other green waste in the green dumpsters than send them to the dump.

Answer:

Does it look like spring already? Remember last year's BIG April snowstorm!

Look for Green Waste Containers AFTER Community Cleanup Day on Saturday, April 23 2016.

Lots of planning and preparation goes on behind the scenes to get the Green Waste program ready. Below are just a few of those many schedule- and time-specific reasons the City adheres to this timeline.

• The green waste program requires staff and equipment time of at least 24 hours per week, which increases costs. The original program was set up to operate 6 months of the year. The city has added one month to the program. Additional time would further increase fees to our customers to cover increased costs
• Staff responsible for green waste collection work 6 days per week, and schedules must change to cover Saturday. Staff works each spring to repaint and re-label containers, which must be completed annually before deployment and prior to any schedule changes.
• Snow and rain in the containers freezes overnight and then the green waste and ice will not come out of the containers. 
• Some of the green waste sites must be graded with base rock placed. This cannot be done in March because the ground is usually still frozen.
• Many green waste sites are used to stage equipment for the cleanup of trash on Community Cleanup Day. This includes Albany County School District collection sites.
• Placing the containers before 2016 Cleanup Day results in unsafe congestion at the green waste sites and residents' overflowing trash mixed in the green waste containers.
• We may still get a heavy snowstorm! Equipment and staff could try to get the containers dumped, but the lingering cold spring conditions compound the possible problems.
• Landfill staff is currently grinding and mixing green waste from last year to make more space for trucks to dump new loads. This will be completed by mid-April.

Remember, you are welcome to take your green waste to the landfill for FREE year round! More information can be found on the city's website or by calling the Public Works Solid Waste Division at 307-721-5279.