Storm debris pickup on schedule
About 60,000 cubic yards of primarily trees and other vegetation have been picked up by a city-parish contractor as storm debris cleanup continues, according to David Guillory, interim Department of Public Works Director.
“The collection is going great,” he said. There are 60 trucks on the road working seven days a week in just about every zip code in the city-parish.
Although it was initially estimated that there would be 200,000 cubic yards of material that would need to be picked up after Hurricane Isaac, Guillory said he recently downgraded that to about 150,000 cubic yards.
Trash collection from garbage cans restarted soon after the storm was over, but trash that is placed outside those trash cans will be spotty until the hurricane debris pickup is completed, he said.
“We’ll be very close to finishing the first pass sometime next week,” Guillory said. After that, the contractor will make a second pass through areas to pick up storm debris and that should go even faster, he said.
Guillory said the contractor will be working on Highland Road from Siegen Lane to LSU on Sunday and encouraged drivers to avoided that road on Sunday, if possible.
Bob Hearn, DPW environmental engineer, said city-parish residents have done a good job of separating the vegetation piles from other storm debris or trash, which has helped speed the work.
“By the weekend, we’ll be in every zip code. That doesn’t mean we’re on every street, but we’ll be in every zip code,” Hearn said.
Hearn said people who need to get rid of household hazardous waste should not put it out with the trash. Instead, Hearn said, such items should be disposed of on Household Hazardous Materials Collection day which will be held from 9 a.m. to 1 p.m. Oct. 6 at the Memorial Stadium, 1702 Foss St.
Residents can bring in household hazardous materials for proper disposal such as fertilizers, pool chemicals, insecticides, pesticides and cleaning products. A complete list of what will and what won’t be accepted at the event is available at www.brgov.com/recycle.
The collection day is only for city-parish residents and businesses.
During the past 27 years, parish residents have brought nearly three million pounds of household hazardous waste to the collection site, according to a news release from the city-parish.
Latex paint is one of the most common materials brought to the collection every year, but it can be disposed of at home safely by mixing equal parts kitty litter into the paint, letting the paint dry out and then putting the can in the garbage, the release says.
People who will be dropping off material should enter the site from Scenic Highway at Foss Street.