Western New York waste program hits its stride
The Town of Pittsford (N.Y.) Department of Public Works (DPW) is currently entering its 16th year of collecting and recycling green waste. In addition to allowing residents to easily dispose of their tree and brush waste, the waste collection program is generating products that the DPW makes available to residents for free.
“Pittsford has, for a long time now, been committed to a recycling program of one sort or another,” says Ed Starowicz, Jr., the town’s deputy commissioner for the DPW. “The grinding of green waste, for example, has been going on since the mid-1980s. At that time, the town was contracting with an outside firm to come in on a regular basis and grind up all the debris that had been collected. In 1998 town officials purchased their first tub grinder, a Morbark 1300, and the town’s recycling program has been growing ever since.”
The Pittsford DPW has divided the town into four quadrants and schedules weekly pickups of residential brush and branches from each section on differing days. Material collected ranges from branches and brush to grass clippings, weeds, vines and small yard debris.
Today, the town takes in material from its own residents as well as from the nearby village of Pittsford, and accepts drop-off material from contractors working in the town, as well as from local colleges.
When the Pittsford DPW chose to replace its existing Morbark 1300 tub grinder, it went through an open bid process and requested demonstrations by a number of major equipment manufacturers.
Town officials selected Morbark’s newest model tub grinder, the 1300B, to keep waste collection going strong.
James Hutchinson, one of the DPW’s senior equipment operators, praises the unit’s durability. “The wear parts on the new machine are just outstanding; much better than anything we’ve ever seen,” says Hutchinson.
The DPW uses the grinder to generate two grades of natural mulch as well as a leaf-mulch and a soil product.
Learn more about Morbark here.
Hi i’m with the village of Watkins Glen Street Department and i noticed that you have a tub grinder and if you did other Municipalities. if so would someone be able to come out and take a look at our brush pile and give us a price on how much it would cost . my phone number is (607)535-6872
thank you
Ken Barber