What do you do with your storm debris?

MACON, Georgia (41NBC/WMGT) – Tropical Storm Irma caused quite a mess throughout neighborhoods in Macon. Two weeks later, debris is still being collected.

“We’re still in the recovery phase and we’re getting stuff collected,” said Macon-Bibb Solid Waste Director, Kevin Barkley. “But it’s taking time.”

Barkley says there are more than 50,000 residential properties in the county, and with everyone putting out material, it’s going to take a while to collect. Especially since there are only 40 employees and 7 trucks, but he says you can help make the process a little easier.

Barkley says crews have already collected about 300-tons of debris.

“Any of your leaves, small branches, pine straw, small materials that you had that can be containerized, either put it in a bag or personal containers and put that out on the street,” said Barkley.

It is important to remember not to put your debris in your blue or green bins. You don’t want to mix your debris with trash or recyclables.

“If you do have some larger branches, cut them in 4 foot lengths and stick them in piles of about 4 foot by 6 foot or so, ” said Barkley. “That way we can pick them up easily with our low type trucks.”

As for branches or trunks bigger than 4 feet in diameter, the Solid Waste Department won’t pick that up.

“What we’re doing is we’re going to contract with a vendor and that vendor will come in and collect all this material, take it to a location, and eventually get ground up and disposed of,” said Barkley.

There is not a specific date on when that will be, but Barkley asks, to be patient.

“This is a big storm. It’s a big county also and it’s going to take us a while to get through it,” said Barkley. “It’s going to take several weeks for us to get through it again and again.”

Barkley also wants to remind you not to take your debris to the landfill. The county will take care of debris, if you put it out.