Contractor Begins Helping City with Tree Debris Collection

Alexandria, La. (February 4, 2021) — Facing an unusually high volume of tree debris and other waste materials throughout the community, the City of Alexandria has contracted with a local firm to assist with collection of green waste.

“Like many other communities that were impacted heavily by hurricanes last year, Alexandria has seen an unusually high amount of debris that needs to be collected,” said Alexandria Mayor Jeffrey W. Hall. “While we were able to quickly collect more than 230,000 cubic yards of tree waste generated by Hurricane Laura, we had more storms after that. And it takes residents time to clean up. We still have folks waiting to do roof repair and tree work. As a result, we continue to see high volumes of waste being generated that exceeds our ability to collect as quickly as we would like and residents deserve. That is why the administration worked with the City Council and made arrangements to bring in a local contractor to assist us in getting this tree waste collected. We appreciate our resident’s patience and expect to get caught up within the next few weeks.”

Workers with Southern Wood Products started collecting tree debris this week in the city limits. “As we did with the emergency contractor that helped with tree debris collection right after Hurricane Laura, these crews will be working their way through the city collecting green waste that they will then grind up for recycling,” explained City of Alexandria Urban Forester Darren Green.

Green said the contract crews will be focused solely on tree debris at this time while city sanitation crews will handle pickup of other debris, such as shingles, broken fencing and other construction waste. “If you have a pile of tree limbs and a pile of construction debris, residents shouldn’t be alarmed if they see a contractor crew take the limbs and leave the other debris,” Green said. “City crews will be coming back behind the contractors later to get the other debris. So don’t worry if just some debris gets picked up, we’ll be back to get the rest.”

As was the case with the cleanup efforts following Hurricane Laura, tree debris must be kept separate from other waste. “For example, if someone has a pile of limbs and then they throw a damaged fence panel on top, that won’t get picked up by the contractor,” Green said. “It has to be a pile of just tree debris, no other items. Mixed piles will have to wait until the city can get it.”

Green said the debris should be placed at the curb or in a common public space to get picked up. “If the street has a median, it’s OK for residents to pile the tree debris there,” he said. “It’s actually easier and more efficient to pick up bigger piles rather than lots of small piles, so if two or three homes want to combine their limbs into a single pile, that is fine.”

When placing any debris curbside for pickup, residents are asked to take care to avoid placing in the road or in places where it could be washed into a storm drain. Residents are also reminded not to dump tree debris or any other trash into drainage canals or ditches.

Photo Attachment:
Contractor Pickup: Workers with Southern Wood Products collect tree debris Thursday in the Good Earth subdivision. The contractor has been hired to assist city sanitation workers in collecting the high volume of tree debris throughout the city.

Contact:
Jim Smilie
Communications
318.449.5038 (Office)
318.730.1683 (Cell)
jim.smilie@cityofalex.com