01-12-2006 South Bend Continues Loose Leaf, Yard Waste, & Christmas Tree Pickup

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South Bend Continues Loose Leaf, Yard Waste, & Christmas Tree PickupPage 1of 2 st "Building a 21 Century City " Stephen J. Luecke, Mayor RELEASE FROM:FOR RELEASE: Office of the MayorThursday, January 12, 2006 South Bend Continues Loose Leaf, Yard Waste, & Christmas Tree Pickup The Mayor announced today that City crews are capitalizing on the great weather and continuing South Bend’s wintertime Clean City Initiative. The City will continue to collect loose leaves, bagged or bundled yard waste, and discarded, natural Christmas trees on a call-in basis. Residents are urged to take advantage of the warmer weather by raking any leftover leaves to the curb for recycling. The number to call for loose leaf or Christmas tree pickup, by the Bureau of Streets, is 235-9244. Yard waste and bagged leaf pickup is also available by calling the Bureau of Solid Waste 277-8823. Crews have completed three rounds of the entire city during 2005’s Operation ReLeaf, and collected over 69,000 cubic yards of leaves. That is the equivalent of a one-foot thick, three-foot high wall that stretches from South Bend to the northwest side of Chicago! These leaves have been diverted from our landfill and will be converted into high quality compost – Environmental Services estimates that this year’s collection will yield approximately 10,000 cubic yards of compost! Crews have also completed one round of Christmas tree pickup, collecting over 2,000 trees, or about 75% of the total collected last year. Trees are shredded as they are collected. Shredding trees onsite is one of many ways the City is working to reduce labor and fuel costs, while still providing a high level of services to its residents. All trees and yard waste are recycled at Organic Resources to produce high quality mulch and compost, as part of South Bend’s proactive environmental stewardship. Mulch and compost will be available at Organic Resources this spring. The mulch is free for South Bend residents. The City thanks all residents for their help to make South Bend a Clean, Safe City! Residents are reminded to please use the following guidelines when collecting material for pickup: Loose Leaf Pickup Guidelines: Please rake leaves to the curb line but avoid raking them into the street, as this will plug the street drains, causing them to flood. DO NOT allow children to play in leaf piles! Do not park on top of or in front of leaf piles along curb lines. A vehicle left running while parked over leaves could create enough heat to ignite a fire. Do not contaminate leaf piles by putting in sticks, trash, and other debris. We will not pick these piles up and it will be the property owner’s responsibility to dispose of contaminated piles (we will not come back to these piles). Yard Waste Guidelines http://www.ci.south-bend.in.us/Press/Releases_2006/011206_chrismasTree.htm1/13/2006