Something new is coming to Cuyahoga Falls: 95-gallon carts to recycle yard waste.
The city is accepting requests for the 2,000 carts from households for grass clippings, leaves and brush, said Charles Novak, the city street commissioner.
Use of the tan-colored carts is strictly voluntary, he said.
The carts will be available starting in June on a first-come, first-served basis.
Cuyahoga Falls also relies on similar carts for household trash and for recyclables. For many households, it will be the third cart.
The city has about 17,000 customers, most of whom have enrolled for trash disposal and recycling, Novak said.
Adding the new cart for yard waste will be phased in over a number of years, he said.
Residents must pay a $25 deposit, be current on their trash bill and already be an active recycler.
The carts at those 2,000 households will replace brown bags that residents purchase for organic materials that can be composted, Novak said.
The city tested the cart system for yard waste with 300 carts across the city last year, he said. That test was “an overwhelming success,” he said.
Households that do not sign up for the yard-waste carts can continue to rely on the brown recycle bags that are available at local stores.
People who get the carts can also still use the brown bags, he said.
The cart should be an improvement over the bags that tear when they get wet, he said. It will also be easier to get rid of brush in the carts than in bags, he said.
No rocks or dirt will be accepted.
The biggest advantage for the city is that work crews have been reduced using the cart system and worker’s compensation claims have also declined sharply, Novak said.
The claims against the city dropped by 84 percent after the city first went to the cart system for trash and recyclables in 2004, he said.
The system to collect the yard-waste carts is semi-automated, he said.
Workers must wheel the carts over to the garbage truck to a tipping station. The cart must then be pushed back when it is empty.
The yard-waste carts won’t be unloaded with mechanical arms, like those used to unload trash carts, he said. That’s because Cuyahoga Falls doesn’t have enough truck equipped with mechanical arms, he said.
The yard-waste will go into trucks for yard waste only, he said. The yard waste will go to Sagamore Soils in Hudson to be composted and recycled.
For information, Cuyahoga Falls residents should call 330-971-8010 or visit www.cityofcf.com.
Bob Downing can be reached at 330-996-3745 or bdowning@thebeaconjournal.com.