Statesboro and Bulloch County are giving residents free landfill access for vegetative debris such as limbs, leaves and sawed-up trees through next week. The local governments have also made other arrangements to ease the disposal of vegetation felled by Hurricane Matthew.

But contractors and landscapers will still be charged tippage fees at the city-run landfill, and the county limits the size of trailers that can unload at its 17 solid waste convenience centers.

The county and city together own the inert waste landfill and also the transfer station that sends household waste to a landfill in another county. But the city manages these facilities, while the county operates the convenience sites that normally receive sorted recyclables as well as household and yard waste.

While continuing to collect Statesboro residents’ storm debris at curbside, the city is waiving the landfill fee for Bulloch County residents who haul their own debris through next Friday. The landfill will also be open this Saturday, for storm debris only.

Meanwhile, until further notice, the county convenience centers will not be taking tires or recyclables in order to devote more time and space to yard waste.

City curbside pickup

Statesboro Public Works and Engineering Director Jason Boyles drafted a notice about the city’s temporary measures, and city and county officials agreed to the wording. He wrote that the city’s collection of trees, limbs and brush began Sunday and will continue until all debris is removed.

“Due to the extensive quantity of debris left by the hurricane please be patient with city crews as it will take several weeks to remove all the debris,” Boyles asked.

Statesboro city residents are asked to place storm debris in piles at the curb, or on the shoulder of the road outside of the travel lane, within the public right of way and not on private property, the notice states.

“City crews will not enter onto private property to collect or remove debris,” Boyles wrote. “It is the homeowner’s responsibility to bring their debris to the curb or shoulder. Do not stack debris near trees, utility poles, fire hydrants, storm drains, etc. Do not place garbage, furniture or other household refuse with your storm debris, as it will not be accepted.”

Landfill fee waiver

Meanwhile, all Bulloch County citizens may bring their debris directly to the Statesboro-Bulloch County Landfill on Lakeview Road. Tippage fees for vegetative storm debris will be waived for Bulloch residents until Friday, Oct. 21, but the notice states that this exemption does not apply to contractors or landscapers. 

Regular landfill hours are 7 a.m. to 5 p.m. Monday through Friday. However, for the public’s convenience, the landfill will operate on expanded hours and will be open Saturday, Oct. 15, from 7:00 a.m. to 5 p.m. for storm debris only. Anyone with questions about this is asked to call the city of Statesboro’s Public Works Department at (912) 764-0681.

Convenience centers

Beginning Wednesday, the county suspended collection of everything except household waste, yard waste and storm debris at its convenience centers. No tires, bulk waste, metal or recyclables are being accepted until further notice, confirmed County Manager Thomas Couch.

“We know that there’s pent-up demand to dispose of yard waste,” he said. “I don’t know how long we are going to extend this change of service. I think we just have to wait until we recognize that the volumes are coming down.”

The county intends to maintain the convenience centers’ regular hours, but the centers may fill up ahead of schedule over the weekend, Couch said. When a center is full, county employees will direct people to other centers.

All yard waste taken to the convenience centers must be fully loaded into the designated roll-off containers provided at every site, said a county notice published Tuesday. Everything in that notice remains in effect, except for its reference to the landfill fee, now waived by the city.

Only bumper-pulled trailers no more than 16 feet long are allowed into the convenience sites with yard waste. This is intended to prevent contractors paid to haul debris in larger or gooseneck trailers from dumping at the centers.

“A big trailer is going to have to go to the landfill,” Couch said. “If you had a bunch of trailers like that coming into a small center, it would be very chaotic and possibly a little bit of a safety hazard.”

The county is also recommending that logs and stumps be pre-cut to lengths no greater than six feet and diameters no greater than 10 inches.

For a previous event with anything approaching the current volume of vegetative debris, officials looked to Winter Storm Pax in February 2014, which produced about 1,000 tons, or 2 million pounds, of debris in Bulloch County. But the ice brought down mostly limbs, not whole trees like the hurricane, so Deputy City Manager Robert Cheshire said he expects two to three times that amount “and possibly more” to be headed to the landfill and transfer station.

Herald reporter Al Hackle may be reached at (912) 489-9458.