Special to The Post-Searchlight

The City of Bainbridge is urging residents to be mindful of where they are placing their yard trash. It is against the law to place yard trash, or any other trash in the roadway.

Section 66-27 of the City’s Municipal Code states, “All limbs, rubbish, and cuttings shall be placed as near as possible to the street or sidewalk property, but not in the street and sidewalk, and shall not exceed four feet in length. At no time shall yard rubbish or trash be placed in ditches, gutters, drains, walkways, alleys or streets of the city.”

There are many reasons why it is important not to put yard trash in the street. Placing yard trash in the street can block the city’s drainage structure, causing water to back up over the road which creates a safety hazard. It also causes the street sweeper to not work properly. If yard trash is in the road, the sweeper has to go around it, causing sections to be missed.

The safety of sanitation workers is also at risk when yard trash is not placed properly. When it is in the street, they have to stop (sometimes blocking the street), get out and rake the leaves to move them out of the way. Having to get in and out of the truck to rake also causes the trucks to get backed up, taking longer to complete their routes. This is especially troublesome in busy times, like in the fall when the leaves are falling, early spring when people clean their yards for the first time on the year, or when bad storms come through.

On average, it takes the city workers 14 business days to pick up all of the yard trash throughout the city. That means the yard trash truck visits your residence once every two weeks. With a little help from our citizens, we are hopeful we can better serve you by speeding up our routes to reach you more often.  It is important to find a spot on your lot to place your yard trash to be picked up. This can be in the corner by a flower bed or somewhere you and your neighbor can share between the two lots. Another way to help speed up pick up is to bag your yard trash in biodegradable lawn bags. This will allow our workers to collect the yard trash more quickly and not have to get out of the truck to rake and pile the debris multiple times for pick up at each stop.