Brightly colored leaves hanging from the trees are one of Mother Nature's finest beauties and a sure sign that autumn is here. The fallen leaves can be a challenge for communities to clean up, but one city has turned to agriculture and found an effective solution.
Green Bay, Wis., got creative with its leaf clean-up when the Department of Public Works purchased a large square baler in 2001. Today, the city owns the baler and a number of tractors used for leaf collection each fall.
Tony Fietzer, street superintendent for the City of Green Bay, explained the leaf clean-up process. First, pull-out crews use tractors to push leaves into piles and make windrows. Next, the baler comes through to make the bales. Bales are loaded onto trucks and taken to the city's waste yard sites. Street sweepers follow behind the baler, and in a half an hour, the street is all cleaned up.
"It takes a good 10 to 12 people to get the job done," Fietzer noted. Still, the time and labor saved is measurable. Prior to the baler, the city collected leaves by loading them into garbage trucks.
"That was effective but inefficient," Fietzer said. He explained that it used to take three to five days to clean up leaves in one neighborhood. Now, with the baler, they can complete three routes in just one day.
Green Bay is a Tree City USA, which means there are a lot of mature trees in some neighborhoods. As a result, there are a lot of leaves. On Tuesday of last week, the crew made 235 bales, which weighed an average of 870 pounds. Approximately 3,000 bales are made each year, said Fietzer.
The bales are available, free of charge, to any farmers who would like them to use as animal bedding. Any unused bales are turned into mulch, which is also available to the public at no cost.
The city has been very pleased with the results. "For us, it has definitely proved itself with cost savings," Fietzer said. "It works great."
For more photos and videos, visit the City of Green Bay Department of Public Works Facebook page.
To comment, email your remarks to intel@hoards.com.
(c) Hoard's Dairyman Intel 2015
November 16, 2015
Green Bay, Wis., got creative with its leaf clean-up when the Department of Public Works purchased a large square baler in 2001. Today, the city owns the baler and a number of tractors used for leaf collection each fall.
Tony Fietzer, street superintendent for the City of Green Bay, explained the leaf clean-up process. First, pull-out crews use tractors to push leaves into piles and make windrows. Next, the baler comes through to make the bales. Bales are loaded onto trucks and taken to the city's waste yard sites. Street sweepers follow behind the baler, and in a half an hour, the street is all cleaned up.
"It takes a good 10 to 12 people to get the job done," Fietzer noted. Still, the time and labor saved is measurable. Prior to the baler, the city collected leaves by loading them into garbage trucks.
"That was effective but inefficient," Fietzer said. He explained that it used to take three to five days to clean up leaves in one neighborhood. Now, with the baler, they can complete three routes in just one day.
Green Bay is a Tree City USA, which means there are a lot of mature trees in some neighborhoods. As a result, there are a lot of leaves. On Tuesday of last week, the crew made 235 bales, which weighed an average of 870 pounds. Approximately 3,000 bales are made each year, said Fietzer.
The bales are available, free of charge, to any farmers who would like them to use as animal bedding. Any unused bales are turned into mulch, which is also available to the public at no cost.
The city has been very pleased with the results. "For us, it has definitely proved itself with cost savings," Fietzer said. "It works great."
For more photos and videos, visit the City of Green Bay Department of Public Works Facebook page.
(c) Hoard's Dairyman Intel 2015
November 16, 2015
