Trees and the Things They Leaf Behind

Once again, LOUA will be planting trees this Saturday. Arboretum partners and volunteers will meet at 9 am on October 8, 2011 at the Indianola Informal K-8 School parking lot on the north side of Weber Road. An Ohio Department of Natural Resources staffer will be on hand to give everyone a quick lesson on how to plant a tree before volunteers are teamed up. If you’ve already seen the demonstration, you can head straight into planting trees.  This time around, we’ll be planting about 65 trees. and the weather’s meant to be beautiful!

Speaking of trees, those leaves are falling down. One of the things that I really missed while in Florida was the crunching, shuffling noise that leaves piled on the ground made. To this day, I love to walk through leaves, just to hear the sound. But once those leaves are all on the ground, they can be raked up, another activity that I truly enjoy.

The weekly yard waste pick-up service for Columbus is provided to 227,000 single-family homes, including households that  use 90 and 300-gallon regular trash containers (NOTE:  Yard waste should never be mixed with regular trash)

Since Fall is the peak yard waste season each year, the city has some friendly reminders on proper ways to dispose of leaves, branches, twigs and grass clippings:

• Yard waste must be put in biodegradable bags or rigid containers with the words “YARD WASTE” on the container’s side. Bags are generally available for purchase at home improvement or grocery retail stores
• Yard waste should never be placed in plastic bags and plastic bags should never be used to line paper bags or rigid containers
• Do not rake leaves into the street, gutters and storm sewer catch basins.  Leaves can clog storm sewers and cause flooding on streets when it rains.
• Cut branches should be no more than four feet in length and bundled with string or twine.  Each bundle should be no more than two feet wide.
• Yard waste includes organic waste generated during regular household gardening and landscaping activities, including:

• Grass clippings
• Leaves
• Twigs
• Branches
• Shrubbery

Items that will not be collected with yard waste:

• Rocks
• Dirt
• Plastic bags
• Food waste

(Please call Rumpke at 1-888-786-7531 if you have questions about what materials are acceptable)

There is no restriction on the number of bags a household can put out for pickup. Each container, bag or bundle must weigh less than 50 pounds (Containers meeting this requirement will likely have a 30-35 gallon capacity)

Why should you recycle?

• Recycling yard waste saves tax dollars and is green
• It saves tax dollars that would have otherwise been needed to dump yard waste at the landfill (NOTE:  Solid Waste Authority of Central Ohio rules prohibit the City of Columbus or others from knowingly dumping yard waste at the Franklin County Landfill)
• It extends the life of the County landfill
• It increases weekly refuse container capacity for residents
• Recycled yard waste can be composted and used in home gardens and landscaping to beautify our homes and neighborhoods

Due to the heavy demand for yard waste pickup in the fall, crews sometimes may need to work Saturdays to catch up on pickups.  Residents’ patience in these cases is appreciated.

Residents can contact the city’s 311 Customer Service Center at 311 or 645-3111 to find out which day of the week is their yard waste collection day

City of Columbus residents may still drop-off their yard waste, free-of-charge, at any of nine locations if they wish to do so.  Please call ahead for hours of operation.

Com-Til, the City’s compost facility (no grass clippings):  7000 Jackson Pike, Columbus (614) 645-3152
Kurtz Bros. and Mulch Manufacturing Inc. (leaves, small branches, grass clippings):

• 2850 Rohr Road, Groveport (Kurtz Bros.); (614) 491-0868
• 6055-C Westerville Road, Westerville (Kurtz Bros.);  (614) 882-0200
• 6279 Houchard Road, Dublin (Kurtz Bros.); (614) 873-2000
• 6747 Taylor Road S.W. (Mulch Manufacturing, Inc.); (614) 864-4004

Ohio Mulch:

• 4120 Roberts Road, Columbus (Ohio Mulch); (614) 921-9330
• 4665 Westerville Rd. (Ohio Mulch); (614) 891-3242
• 1600 Universal Rd. (Ohio Mulch); (614) 445-4455
• 537 Reynoldsburg-New Albany Rd. (Ohio Mulch); (614) 863-0445

Until next time!