When it comes to recycling yard waste, Rick Kucera, Chatham-Kent’s manager of waste and recycling services, believes Chatham-Kent residents deserve an enormous pat on the back.
Kucera said demands of residents have forced the second expansion of the Chatham Leaf and Yard Depot on Creek Road, one of nine operated by the municipality.
Nearly 28,000 vehicles visited the Depot in 2016 –an average of more than 100 vehicles per operating day.
During the peak fall season the site has received as many as 575 vehicles over eight hours on one Saturday.
“Since the Chatham Leaf and Yard Depot opened in 2003, the number of residents using the site each year has increased from approximately 12,000 to 30,000,” he said. “Residents from across the community have clearly supported the diversion of their yard waste as they are now diverting more than 8,000 metric tonnes of waste a year to one of nine Leaf and Yard Depots.”
Kucera said when the Depot was opened in 2003 it received 12,040 vehicles during the first year. After 10 years (2013), the vehicle count had grown to 22,017. The site was first expanded in 2014 and the vehicle count increased to 27,459. In order to provide enough capacity for the 30,947 vehicles visiting the Depot in 2015, it was decided to expand the site in 2016 for hopefully the last time.
The latest expansion increased yard waste capacity by 34 per cent.
All yard waste delivered to C-K Leaf and Yard Depots is ground into mulch and is available free of charge to residents for use in their yards and gardens. Mulch helps to conserve moisture, suppress weeds, moderate soil temperature and hold fertilizer around the plants.
The municipality also operates depots in Bothwell, Ridgetown, Tilbury and Wallaceburg as well as in the former townships of Camden, Dover, Harwich, and Romney.
For a list of operating hours, locations and other information, go to
https://www.chatham-kent.ca/GarbageandRecycling/Pages/LeafYardWaste.aspx
– Photo credit: Municipality of Chatham-Kent
