A week into the new city brush removal service, the takeaways are good.
The City of Edna contracted with White Trash Service to begin weekly removal of city residents’ brush piles, after removing that part of its agreement with trash collector TDS earlier this fall.
City Manager Gary Broz said Friday that city officials are happy with the way the first pickup date was handled.
“It is a success,” Broz said. “They picked up over 48 piles in two days, some big, some small, more big than small. They did good with that.”
About the only hiccups happened with a couple of locations leaving trash underneath the limbs or leaving their piles of brush underneath power lines, both minor issues that can easily be addressed, he said.
“It went well, except they’ve got to keep the brush separated from trash and bulky items,” Broz said. “They got two loads rejected and had to take them to the landfill, which cost us twice or three times the normal fee. That’s one that we’ve got to work on.”
The issue is that regulations limit the brush site to only receive limbs and branches, not boards, planks, pallets, construction materials, or trash, he said. When loads are rejected, they have to be driven to the landfill and landfill fees are incurred.
As for the power lines, home owners should look around their surroundings before setting out the brush at the curb, he added. The truck’s arm needs clearance to pivot, extend, and lift, something that doesn’t affect normal garbage collection.
“Don’t put the brush under a power line or something like that, because that arm has to grab it,” Broz said. “We had to go back to a couple of places and push it around so that they could pick it up. Other than that, it was a success.”
Residents with brush to be removed are asked to call City Hall at 361-782-3122 before noon on Mondays, to give staff time to compile a list and WTS time to design a route. WTS will pick up the brush on Wednesdays.
The brush removal truck has began weekly services.
