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Yard Waste Info

Agencies get out word on ban of yard waste

By JEFF MONTGOMERY, The News Journal
Posted Tuesday, September 19, 2006
A push is on to prepare New Castle County residents for a yard waste ban at northern Delaware's main landfill starting Jan. 1.
The ban will make grass clippings, leaves and other plant debris ineligible for regular household trash pickups.
Department of Natural Resources and Environmental Control Secretary John A. Hughes set the yard waste deadline in a permit for the controversial expansion of Cherry Island Landfill in northeast Wilmington. Officials hope the measure -- similar to those adopted by dozens of other states and counties -- will save space in the landfill and delay its closing.
"We're going to do everything we can to make it easy to do this," Hughes said Monday. "A considerable portion of our citizens are going to do as they're asked. They're going to do the right thing."
Yard waste makes up about a quarter of the material sent away for disposal in Delaware. Only about a third is diverted into composting, mulch-making or other recycling. One study, completed in 2004, estimated that a ban could push that share to 75 percent.
DNREC and the Delaware Solid Waste Authority already have scheduled briefings on the change for several civic organizations. Mailings, advertisements and meetings with trash haulers also are planned.
Five Brandywine Hundred lawmakers stressed the need for the public education effort in a letter delivered to Hughes on Monday. The lawmakers warned that "very few people are actually aware of the ban" or the potential for fines.
Hughes cautioned that DNREC would stress education at first. "We're going to let this build without a strong enforcement emphasis at the beginning," Hughes said.
The legislators, all Republicans, raised questions about cost, illegal dumping, back-yard composting issues and opportunities for private collectors. Signing the request were Rep. Gregory F. Lavelle, Sharpley; Rep. Robert J. Valihura Jr., Talleyville; House Majority Leader Wayne A. Smith, Clair Manor; Sen. Catherine Cloutier, Heatherbrooke; and Sen. Charles Copeland, West Farms.
Hockessin Woods resident Michael Kamps, a member of that community's civic group, said he was unaware of any alarm over the change. Kamps also said most residents will develop their own mulching and composting strategies.
"My guess is that people will either use a mulching mower or take their grass clippings and branches and things and put them in their back yard. A lot of the houses here back up to woods," Kamps said.
A consultant study prepared for the solid waste authority in 2004 found that states with yard waste bans divert 2.6 times more of the material from landfills than those without the restriction. The same study found that Maryland's ban keeps about 237 pounds of yard waste per resident out of landfills each year, compared with Delaware's current yard waste recycling rate of only 80 pounds per resident.
Pasquale S. Canzano, chief operating officer for DSWA, said the agency plans to provide more details about yard waste options. He said residents should consider use of mulching mowers as one quick fix.
"There are a number of choices. The easiest one, if you have property and the wherewithal, is backyard composting," Canzano said.
Contact Jeff Montgomery at 678-4277 or jmontgomery@delawareonline.com.