If you have ever driven past the Public Works Department (ESG) Hinesville building you might have noticed the large quantities of dirt/mulch in the parking lot; well that is the final product of the city’s curbside recycling program. This program may not be exactly the first thing you think of in regards to recycling, however it is and it’s just as important as recycling bottles and cans. Recently, Keep Liberty Beautiful Executive Director Karen Bell and Volunteer Coordinator Bobby Q.D. Reynolds, were able to tour the entire recycling process, thanks to Public Works Department (ESG) Director Gary Gillard. The fascinating tour explained the entire process from yard waste pick up to the fresh organic mulch made available to the public at no cost  - free. 

Most people overlook, grass, leaves, brush, branches, and dead plants as ingredients for making useful products like organic compost and mulch. This resource, referred to as yard waste, is collected separately from household trash. The city processes this material to create compost or mulch. Yard waste is collected by regular collection whenever you place your freshly raked pile of leaves or fallen tree branches at the side of the road. Do not use your city-issued trash container for yard waste unless you want the material treated as regular trash. You can place the yard waste in bags or piled neatly on the curbside.  

• (Code 1978, § 14-91) 

• Sec. 13-53. - Yard trash, tree and shrubbery trimmings. Yard trash, tree and shrubbery trimmings shall be placed for collection by being neatly stacked at the edge of the pavement of any public right-of-way used for road purposes. Tree trunks, branches, limbs, or shrubbery larger than five inches in diameter or longer than five feet or heavier than 50 pounds shall not be collected by the City. 

(Code 1978, § 14-92) 

• Sec. 13-54. - Trees, shrubbery, branches, etc. Trees, shrubbery, branches, limbs and trimmings cut by landscape or tree service contractors or other commercial workers or resulting from land being cleared shall not be collected by the City, but shall be collected and removed by those who have performed the work or shall be removed by the person for whom the work was performed. 

(Code 1978, § 14-93) 

• Sec. 13-55. - Leaves. Leaves shall be neatly piled free of other debris and placed at the edge of the pavement of any public right-of-way used for road purposes. 

The yard waste is then collected and the recycling process begins. Once the truck collecting the yard waste has completed its route it then travels to an undeveloped area on JV Road next to the Liberty County Solid Waste Convenience Center, 619 JV Road (West Side of Hinesville). When the truck arrives a few employees then sort through the collection removing any non-organic and processed materials. While the yard waste is in this area it is moved and pushed into plies. Once a year the city contract a company to use their “Tub Grinder” which will grind all of the tree limbs, leaves, and shrubbery. Following this process they are then placed into “Windrows” which are approximately fifty feet long and twenty feet high. “When we put the material into windrows after it’s been ground up we turn it every six weeks to help with the decomposition process and try to get the temperature anywhere from 130 to 170 degrees Fahrenheit, because it helps the material to break down,” Gillard said. 

Once that process is completed a vendor is contracted to come in with a large Screen Machine to separate and screen the material for pieces not small enough yet from the finished product that is then ready for public utilization. If you travel to JV Road and see the workers out there they would be more than happy to help load your vehicle with the amount of mulch you need or you can go to the office parking lot located at 613 Elma G Miles Parkway, Hinesville. You can help yourself to as much mulch as you want. 

If you have questions about the yard waste curbside recycling program, you can call the Public Works Department (ESG) at 912-876-8216.  One way citizens can help ensure the continued success of this program is by making sure their piles of yard debris is free of any non-nature produced materials. If you have questions about the yard waste curbside recycling program, you can call the Public Works Department (ESG) at 912-876-8216.

For more information about Keep Liberty Beautiful programs call 912-880-4888 or email klcb@libertycountyga.com.