With Hurricane Laura impacting much of Louisiana, the Louisiana Department of Environmental Quality (LDEQ) encourages residents across the state to be mindful of the proper separation and disposal of debris.
During the aftermath of a flood, tropical storm or hurricane, carefully sort any trash, household chemicals, appliances/white goods and debris into separate, distinct piles and place them curbside for proper disposal.
Separate your waste into the following categories:
- Household trash: Normal household trash and bagged debris of any kind will not be picked up as part of debris collection. This will be collected on your normal garbage removal schedule
- Vegetative debris: includes branches and limbs, logs, plants and leaves
- Construction and Demolition debris: Materials that are an integral part of the structure such as Sheetrock/drywall, plaster, lumber, plumbing, insulation or brick
- White goods: air conditioners, dishwashers, freezers, refrigerators, stoves, washers and dryers, water heaters
- Electronics: computers, radios, televisions, devices with a cord
- Household Hazardous Waste: cleaning supplies, batteries, lawn chemicals, oil, paint and stain, pesticides, vehicle fluids
Since household chemicals can become hazardous in storm-damaged homes and businesses, please ensure you seal, secure and properly dispose of those items so that they don’t create a health and environmental hazard.
If possible, label all containers clearly before placing them out for disposal. Ensure that all food and liquids are removed from refrigerators and freezers before moving those appliances to the curb.
Most items can be recycled or donated to thrift stores or Habitat for Humanity ReStores, so please check into those locations to confirm what they will accept. Items such as used electronics, laptops and computer hardware, batteries, paint, cleaning products and solvents, and lawn/garden products can be donated to various recyclers or dropped off at a Household Hazardous Materials Collection Day.
Please refrain from conducting an open burn of your household waste as it is illegal in the state of Louisiana to do so. For more information on debris management and re-entry after a storm or flood,please view the disaster debris management page
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Below is information on a few specific locations that have provided information on debris pickup locally.
In Lafayette Parish
To allow time for Lafayette Parish residents to clean up storm debris, Lafayette Parish (LCG) residents have about a 10-day window to move debris to the curb for collection. LCG will soon hire a storm debris contractor that specializes in storm debris removal.
Yard waste (sticks, branches, limbs, logs, tree trunks, leaves, and plants) should be placed in its own pile, separated from other types of debris. If vegetation is placed in a container, the container must be no bigger than 35 gallons and less than 50 pounds. Overweight containers are difficult for crews to manually lift.
Debris should always be separated into six categories: electronics, large appliances, hazardous waste, vegetative debris, construction debris, and household garbage. Those categories should never be mixed because they could all be going to different waste sites. No matter the type of debris, be mindful of laying piles near water meters, telephone and cable lines, utility power poles, guy wires attached to the ground that stabilize the poles, street signs, fire hydrants and under tree canopies. Trucks are equipped with a boom and powerful claw that can cause damage.
Until a contractor is hired, which is currently in the works, please note yard waste will not be picked up the day as garbage and recycling collection. Residents are urged to not take yard waste to the compost facility.
In Acadia Parish
the City of Crowley has contracted with a debris removal company to assist our citizens in picking up construction debris (building materials, drywall, lumber, carpet, furniture, mattresses, plumbing) vegetative debris (tree branches, leaves and logs), and “White Goods” (refrigerators, washer and dryers, freezers, air conditioners, stoves, water heaters and dishwashers).
The city says it is very important that these items are separated in piles by the three types, construction, vegetative and white goods. If the items are combined in pile it will NOT be picked up. Please visit https://www.epa.gov/sites/production/files/2017-09/documents/debris-separation-epa.pdf
All citizens are asked to place debris on the city right of way by Monday August 31, 2020. The trucks will begin removing debris by area and will be in the City of Crowley until Thursday September 3, 2020. Please try to have all debris to the right of way and ready for pick up on Monday morning. These contractors legally cannot pick up any debris on private property. Be mindful of any downed powerlines and placing debris on corners that could possibly block view of traffic. Please stay safe and continue to pray for our City
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