Oxford Yard Waste Collection: Lessons Learned

Last Thursday and Friday, Irina, Austin and I volunteered to take on the challenge of cleaning up the recent storm debris throughout the town. We decided to do this as a family to support our busy Public Works Dept and to clean up the town's appearance in general. Although we are in the midst of a two-month pause, we felt the town needed one more good cleanup to have a complete "reset" while we figured out the best approach for the future approach. Public Works is currently working very hard to install the water meters with an end of month deadline quickly approaching. We just felt like we could do something to provide a little relief even though they had been excused from the debris clean-up for the months of July and August. I hope you see and feel the difference like we do.

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I wanted to share some of our experiences during the clean-up and some real numbers as a spot reference that could possibly help while selecting a contractor in whatever collection capacity you decide.

Here are the numbers:

One truck and a large dump trailer were used for the cleanup. Travel time, to and from the landfill, had a total of 3.5 hours for two trips.
Two adults and a teenager for a total of 24 hours in labor. All clean-ups were done by hand loading and raking the ground cleanup.
Diesel Fuel cost was $65.
Total weight collected was 5,620 pounds for two trailers and one truck load.
Total scale tipping fees paid totaled $146.50

Discrepancies noted that should be considered:

All debris raked to the street took 2 - 3 times longer to clean up with constant raking to gather until completely gone. Convenient for the homeowners and a pain for the clean-up folks.
Debris that were packed in paper bags. Some bag bottoms were wet, and when we lifted them, the bottoms tore open.
The paper bags that were dry; we turned them upside down while shaking it several times to get the debris to release and empty. Three bags would not release the contents at all because of the compaction. We disposed of them as a full bag.
Some of the debris collected were very large branches, as much as 12 feet long and hard to work with. Some limbs were as big as 5" in diameter with many widespread branches. Very heavy and awkward to load.
One pile of debris on Tilghman St did not resemble storm debris but large bush trimmings that measured about 6' long. They had 1" thorns on them that had to be handled carefully while loading. Very time consuming. It looked like a contractor's disposal with all the clean cuts and a large pile of many different debris. It also had random poison ivy vines in the pile of debris.
A few small yard wagons, trash cans and plastic containers had 6" to 8" of water inside of them that added considerable weight to the lift. Wagons were awkward to lift with the long handle flopping around everywhere, especially when it's heavy.
**Some debris locations were consolidated as a community dump site located on town property for that area of property owners. The dump sites have become a convenient dump site because it's not left in front of the property owner's home. It seems to be fed continuously between pick up dates. One was near Trinity Church on the small street that connects to Tred Avon and Division St. One was at the intersection of Riverview and Morris St that leads to the public beach near the Lab.
Picture above - Some folks think that because they have green collection containers, they can leave them out near the street all the time. Also, the contractors are loading these up utilizing the free pickup service by the town instead of loading their trucks.

Recommendations and possible adjustments to consider:

Frequency of pickups. Biggest contributor. This includes trash, recycling, rubble/bulk, sticks, and leaves are the main issue. Our pickup calendar promotes some form of disposal/pickup to be on the streets of Oxford most of the time. There are not many opportunities to have trash free Oxford days during the month. In addition, there has been no enforcement for putting disposables out early, in all forms, which allows some type of disposable on the town streets relentlessly. Our town streets look like a continuously available trash collection facility most of the week. Also, having no enforcement of contractors abusing our towns' pickup service, it continues to be a large part of the problem. The contractor abuse indirectly encourages some citizens to put disposables out on the street, whenever they feel like it, because something is always on the streets which makes it "okay." The pickup dates and put-out times are totally ignored with the exception of maybe Monday garbage pickup. However, it too can be put out a few days earlier if folks are not here Sunday evening or Monday morning. The latest issue with trash is the many foxes now residing in town limits. The plastic bags are no match for their appetite if food is inside. It is an invitation to quite a mess on Monday mornings, which beg the following questions. Who should clean it up? The contractor or the homeowner? Should the homeowner be held accountable? It will probably get worse as the cold weather arrives.

Recommendations - Limit the frequency of pickups. Try to shorten the pick-up schedule during the week. Maybe starting with trash pickup on Monday and ending the pick-up schedule with recycling on Wednesday. Maybe recycling could be adjusted and moved back to Tuesday or Wednesday. That would leave only three days a week with anything put out for pick-up. Basically, we could shorten the trash week. This could help with enforcement because the town could be trash-free prior to the weekend. More importantly, it would help flush out the offenders that would be obvious and could be addressed accordingly Thursday or Friday by the Town Office. There will be an adjustment period but a big plus visually in the long term. Just think, no trash on the streets during the weekends, how clean the town could be for us and our visitors.

Enforce the 24-hour prior trash put-out rule that is in our present ordinance. Short trash pick-up week will also help with this.

3. Trash/debris should be in a plastic/metal covered container to prevent collection of water and to deter animals from investigating. Sticks should be cut in 36" or 48" lengths and wrapped in twine. Limit branches to 3" in diameter. No more loose grass or leaves being placed on the street. Either they should be placed on a tarp & tied up lightly or bagged loosely so they could be emptied quickly.

4. Rubble/bulk - if it is placed near the street or on town property. Make sure it is safely exposed to the public, no nails, sharp metal, or glass. Someone could step on it inadvertently in the dark while walking, running, or riding a bike. Possible liability?

4. No debris allowed with poison ivy to include thorns unless bagged and marked with that appropriate warning in a thick disposable paper bag.

5. No more community dump sites in neighborhoods. All "property owner" collected debris should be placed in front of their property only. No contractor assists to pile up for free pick-ups.

6. Contractor enforcement would be a game changer. Notify all landscape and local tree cutting contractors of our policy and proposed fines if they don't comply with. Signed acknowledgement? Should they be banned for a period of time?

7. No collection containers left permanently out near the street or in the town "right of way" to store debris for "always available" collection points.

Lastly, I think this could be a very good idea for many reasons. I have included a picture of a solar powered LED sign designed for a municipality. It is programable and could be used to get information out quickly to our town residents who may not live on Social Media and look for emails arriving like some folks do. If we can find a very visible location or two that are located on town property to avoid state permitting, it could be very useful for many different things. Severe weather alerts, potential flooding, current flood areas, scam alerts, safety hazards possibly in town, electric wires down with location, closed work areas for town employees. Also, reminders for fun events, available parking, town announcements, and important meeting reminders. Holiday schedules, trick or treat hours, town office closing dates. A pause in trash/debris pickup for two months might be a good example! Postcards take days to arrive and waste valuable staff time to stamp and mail. Anyway, I have requested a catalog and a contact number for further information to narrow in what the sign company has available that could fit our town's needs and price range. Just a thought but I think it could be a game changer to keep our town citizens informed in "real time".