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Eagle revamps lawn waste facility operation

Eagle's redesigned lawn waste facility — which includes fencing, security cameras and a manned operation — will open April 4.
Pam Boyd/pboyd@eaglevalleyenterprise.com |

Some things get too popular for their own good — Eagle’s yard waste recycling operation is a case in point.

Opened around eight years ago, the town’s yard waste compost pile was originally intended to fill a void left when local trash pick-up switched to an automated system. Because an employee was no longer used to pick up trash cans, residents couldn’t leave yard clippings out with their garbage, so the town designated a yard waste drop-off point near the Eagle wastewater treatment plant.

“And then things got out of control,” noted Deron Dircksen, town of Eagle assistant engineer. “Commerical contractors started coming in with trailers full of materials.”



Last fall the town took the first step toward reining in the operation by paying $22,000 to have materials at the site ground up and hauled away to the Gypsum biomass plant. Moving forward, the town will both police the facility and segregate what is collected to ensure a clean collection stream. With the new regs in place, the biomas operation will accept and haul the collections.

Order out of chaos

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According to Dircksen, improvements at the site include fencing, lighting and security cameras. The facility now has designated collection areas for branches and twigs less than 12 inches in diameter, grass clippings (including weeds, house plants, green garden trimmings and flowers) and leaves and pine needles.

The facility’s hours have been reduced to Saturdays from beginning of April through November from 9 a.m. to 5 p.m. The first day of operations for the new facility will be Saturday, April 4. A town of Eagle employee will be stationed at the facility during operating hours.

For many of the people who use the facility, residency rules are the biggest change for the operation. Only Eagle residents who pay for trash collection services through the town will be allowed to use the yard waste facility and they will have to provide a copy of their town utilities bill to prove residency.

Not acceptable

With tighter supervision of the facility, the town says it can make sure clean stream woody biomass collections can go to the biomass plant in Gypsum. Other collections will go to Vail Honeywagon for a new compost operation.

As always, no construction material, demolition debris, pressure treated wood, painted wood, stained wood, roots, rocks, gravel, sand, dirt, livestock manure, dog or cat feces, meat, bones, dairy, grease, kitchen scraps, deceased animals, household hazardous waste, plastic, paper, glass, styrofoam or metal will be accepted at the yard waste facility

For additional information about the Eagle Yard Waste Facility, contact Dircksen at 970-328-6678.


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