Homemade leaf collector

[Harry K]

Good for the lawn? Yes, and the earthworms love the food. At worst it does no harm. Been 'mowign in place' for umm...30+ years and the best lawn is where most of the leaves land.

Harry K

[Colbyt]

We have a recycling program here also. The city provides 3 oversized rolling carts (one for trash, one for recyclables and one for yard waste) and free paper bags for yard waste. We are also allowed to haul 2 free loads of yard waste to the compost site each month.

They have massive equipment at the composting site. The shredder chews up and mulches 24" log rounds (may even bigger). They literally have mountains of the stuff out there. It is actively managed, turned and aerated as a compost pile should be. A mountain becomes a hill as it breaks down.

The composted material is then given free to the residents a few times per year.

It is claimed that the recycle cost is far cheaper than the landfill fees. The city has to haul the garbage to a certified landfill 3 counties away so there may well be some truth to the statement that it is cheaper. The local dump fee for C&D is $29 per ton and I imagine the certified trash site charges even more.

While I am critical of the government in a lot of places, this one seems to make sense to me.

There is also a local private company that has done quite well running a compost business using the horse stall cleanings.

Colbyt

[dpb]

On 10/21/2011 11:37 AM, Vic Smith wrote: ...

Every place is different of course, but the County landfill here is a profit center that actually turns revenue back into the county general fund every year.

They do that by collecting/selling waste-generated methane amongst other forward-looking ventures. The compost and mulch is part of that operation. Don't know it would pay totally independently, but w/ the other business to amortize equipment cost over and the other activities it at least doesn't prevent them from running at a positive margin overall.

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[Vic Smith]

Here the town picks up the leaves every Monday for about 6 weeks. Pretty sure they're still using front end loaders and dump trucks. Maybe I'll see them tomorrow. Another reason I don't think they can make money on is it is our yard waste is up to $2.05 per 30 gallon brown bag.

--Vic

[Vic Smith]

Good if they can turn a profit. One thing for sure is I'm glad you just can't burn them like we used to. Don't think my lungs could handle that.

--Vic