Brookhaven Waste Management Explains Methods

DECEMBER 6, 2006, FARMINGVILLE, NY- The Brookhaven Town Waste Management Department wants residents to know how to properly prepare brush for curbside collection.

“Brookhaven Town residents are conscientious about cleaning up their yards and making their homes and neighborhoods beautiful, and Waste Management is eager to help them,” said Brookhaven Town Supervisor Brian X. Foley. “I am asking residents to review the information below to make that cooperation possible.”

Brush placed at the curb for recycling is brought to the Town Landfill where it is run through a chipper and made available to residents as wood chips for landscaping and mulching. Brush collected from curbside includes twigs, small branches (up to 6” diameter), wood chips, hedge clippings, and Christmas trees.

As the quality of chips is dependent on the way brush is packaged at the curb, the best ways to place brush at the curb, in order of preference, are as follows:

• Loose in a Container. Brush prepared in this manner can be tossed directly into the chipper with no additional labor or contaminants. Loose brush should be in containers no larger than 32 gallons with lids removed. Brush may not protrude above the rim of the container. The weight limit for each container is 50 pounds.
• Bundled and Tied. Brush and small branches/sapling trunks (up to 6” in diameter and 4’ in length) can be securely tied in bundles no larger than 4’x2’x2’. The weight limit for each bundle is 50 lbs.
• Brown Paper Bags. The best way to bag small brush, if residents must bag it at all, is in paper. Paper bags break down easily in the chipper and add no contamination to the wood chips. In an effort to encourage the best option for bagging small brush, paper yard waste bags will be required for bagged brush beginning January 1, 2007. Plastic bags will no longer be acceptable for bagging brush, but may still be used for leaves.

Paper yard waste bags are available at most grocery, hardware, and home supply stores. Paper brush bags are also available from the Town of Brookhaven Department of Waste Management at cost. Town brush bags sell for 28 cents apiece and are sold in lots of ten. Residents can purchase bags at the Town of Brookhaven Department of Waste Management Office at Town Hall, One Independence Hill, Farmingville, and at the Town Landfill on Horseblock Road in Yaphank. Town bags are labeled for brush and therefore cannot be used for leaf collection.

Paper bags available from grocery, hardware, and home supply stores may be used for leaves, but residents should adhere to the yard waste collection schedule published by the Town and put out for collection only those yard waste items to be collected in a particular week.

Free wood chips are available to residents for use in landscaping and garden projects. Wood chips can be picked up at the Town Landfill in Yaphank, at the Manorville Compost Site on Paper Mill Road in Manorville, and at the Holtsville Ecology Site on Buckley Road in Holtsville.

For further information, please refer to your Throwing It Out in Brookhaven brochure update or contact the Department of Waste Management at 451-6446.


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Office of the Supervisor
One Independence Hill • Farmingville • NY 11738 • Phone (631) 451-6955 • Fax (631) 451-6677