Published: July 18, 2008 04:09 pm            

New Albany's Mayor England announces yard waste blitz

So you know • To contact the street department, call 812-948-5352. Please identify your name, address and telephone number and the type of waste to be collected.

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New Albany Mayor Doug England has ordered the Street Department to collect the backlog of yard waste throughout the city by the end of next week.

“Citizens have not been satisfied with the current status of yard-waste collections in New Albany,” England stated in a news release. “The England administration is not either.”

The city has been dealing with yard-waste collections on a call-in basis. Now, the street department will take up all the trash in each section of New Albany before moving to the next neighborhood.

In a nine-day period in May, the street department collected more than 57 tons of yard waste in addition to 18 tons of trash and rubbish.

“The severity and number of storms that we had this spring and summer have exacerbated the yard waste problem,” said Mickey Thompson, street department superintendent.

The administration blames part of the problem on the city’s contract with Southern Indiana Waste Systems, which does not require removal of yard waste or rubbish.

The contract strictly covers garbage collections, with a provision to pick up an additional disposed item.

Carl Malysz, deputy mayor and director of development for the city, said the contract leaves street department workers to pick up a considerable amount of yard waste while trying to stay on top of their normal responsibilities.

The yard-waste blitz will be productive, but it will require the street department to “pretty much put everything else aside”, Malysz said.

Malysz said renegotiating the contract with Southern Indiana Waste Systems to include “the whole bill of goods” might be the best option for the city.

Until then, residents are reminded of the following:

• Yard waste — grass clippings, limbs, brush and other vegetation — and rubbish — household materials, lumber, etc. — must not be co-mingled and must be placed in separate piles for pickup.

• The street department will continue to make regular pickups each week on a call-in basis.

• The street department also will sweep one of four city sectors each Thursday, putting all available crews on collection detail.

• The city can no longer dispose of whole trees. A felled tree is the property owner’s responsibility. Also, the city will not pick up trees felled by a contractor or tree service.

        

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