Sanitation workers remove leaves along N. 2nd Street in Harrisburg.
Harrisburg today issued new rules and guidelines for “woody waste,” which includes brush, bark and limbs.
Until Jan. 1, the city will collect this waste on street-cleaning days. It must be picked up separately from the regular trash because it has been banned from the incinerator, said the city.
Earlier in the fall, the city administration asked residents to put out leaf waste separate from the regular trash. On street cleaning days, Harrisburg now collects leaves that has been placed in compostable bags, which is then sent to Swatara Township’s composting facility.
The city also announced that it will pick up Christmas trees left at curbside from Jan. 1 to Jan. 30.
The city’s full press release, with more detailed guidelines, follows:
CITY ANNOUNCES NEW GUIDELINES FOR BRUSH AND WOODY WASTE COLLECTIONS
Harrisburg, PA – The City of Harrisburg’s Public Works Department is notifying residents of immediate changes in collection of brush and woody waste.
“The Pennsylvania Department of Environmental Protection has notified the City that we can no longer bring brush and branches to the former Harrisburg incinerator for disposal,” said Mayor Eric Papenfuse. “This means we must institute new procedures for collecting brush, branches, limbs and other woody waste that was usually collected with trash.”
From Nov. 21, 2015 until Jan. 1, 2016, residents should set out their branches, limbs and woody waste separately from trash on street cleaning day, which now occurs twice each month during street cleaning seasons.
Branches are to be cut in lengths not to exceed four (4) feet, and tied securely in bundles not to exceed two (2) feet thick.
A City truck will collect the branches, limbs and woody waste and deliver them to the City’s Public Works yard at 1820 Paxton Street, Harrisburg. There, the City will grind the materials into wood chips, place the wood chips in a truck and deliver the materials to the compost site located in Swatara Township.
The City is investigating plans to site its own yard waste composting and management facility. Once the new City compost site is up and running, these materials may be delivered directly to the new composting site for storage and processing.
Processing is expected to include chipping or grinding of the materials, with potential recycling/use of the mulch end-product by the City.
Residents will be able to set out branches, limbs and woody waste during street cleaning days until January 1, when scheduled street cleaning stops for the snow/plowing season.
According to the new guidelines:
From January 1 of each year, until street cleaning again recommences (typically in Spring/Summer), residents may drop off bundles of branches, limbs and woody waste to the Public Works Yard at 1820 Paxton St.
Public Works staff will receive the materials, grind them, and truck them to the Swatara Township composting site (until the new compost site is in operation, when trucks may deliver these materials directly to the new compost site for processing).
Seasonal Christmas tree collection and handling will continue to occur under the current program, as follows:
From January 1 through January 30, the City Highway Department will collect Christmas trees set out at the curb by residents and will take them to the Swatara Township compost site for storage/processing.
