A long winter followed by falling leaves from live oaks and a few windy thunderstorms created an abundance of yard debris around Beaufort this spring. The next weekends were good yard-working weather, which created huge amounts of debris for Beaufort’s waste-haulers to collect.

As the haulers were trying to clean up the city, the heavy thunderstorms soaked the local landfill, halting dumping for a short while. Coupled with last Monday’s Memorial Day holiday when the landfill was closed, a few mechanical breakdowns and employee illnesses, and Beaufort City leaders aren’t happy with the way Beaufort looks.

“We’ve been caught in a perfect storm that created more yard debris than usual, plus the landfill problems, and plus some people aren’t following the guidelines for disposing yard debris, household garbage and recyclables,” Beaufort City Manager Scott Dadson said.

“We are catching up now, but we need to work together to prevent this from happening again,” he said. “We all take great pride in how Beaufort looks, to our residents and to our visitors.”

Following the city’s guidelines for pick-up of garbage, yard debris and recyclables is required by city ordinance.

“Our public works team and Waste Pro have been putting in extra time to catch up with the Beaufort clean-up, but some of that time has been spent explaining why yard debris has to be bagged or bundled, or why someone can’t use their own garbage can on the side of their street,” said Isiah Smalls, Beaufort’s director of public works and facilities management.

Highlights of the guidelines include:

<b>Normal Household Yard Debris:  </b>Should be bagged or bundled, in 50 lbs maximum weight and 4-foot length maximums. If you have items that do not comfortably fit in a bag you may “tie” into bundles with the same weight and length limits. This means shrubbery clippings that residents don’t wish to bag should be “tied” into bundles.

You can have as many bags or bundles as you wish, as long as they meet the weight and length requirements, and also the bundles are tied and meet weight and length requirements.

For items that do not meet these requirements (such as large tree limbs) or any loose debris, residents should contact Waste Pro directly at 645-4100 and request a “special trash service” quote.  There is a possible charge for non-normal yard debris. A Waste Pro supervisor will come out and let resident know of cost for removal.

<b>Recycling:</b>  All items should be placed inside the recycling bin, and if there are extras place items inside a clear plastic bag and place on top of recycling bin, or beside. Residents should be clear to use the correct container — use the recycling bin and not the roll cart for garbage.

<b>Roll Carts:</b> All household garbage should be placed inside plastic bags that are secured and placed inside the roll cart.

<b>Roadside placement:</b> The roll cart and/or recycling bin should be out by 7 a.m. on the designated day of service.

<b>Household garbage pick-up:</b> All household garbage to be collected by Waste Pro personnel must be placed in disposable plastic garbage bags or some other disposable container and placed in the roll cart provided by the city. The roll cart is to be placed inside the curb, outside the drainage ditch line of the street, near the front line of your premises, no earlier than 5:30 a.m. and no later than 7 a.m. on the designated day of pick-up.

No containers of any shape, size or form other than the roll carts provided by the City of Beaufort will be emptied and returned to the curb.

To find out your day for Waste Pro pick-up, visit www.cityofbeaufort.org, go to Departments/Public Works and click on Sanitation. Residents also can call 645-4100.