Tempe turning organic storm debris into useable resource
Sep 3, 2015, 6:00 AM | Updated: 12:15 pm
(AP Photo/Ross D. Franklin)
PHOENIX — The City of Tempe has found a silver lining in the clouds of this week’s monsoon storm damage.
Although downed trees, branches and bushes now litter the yards of Tempe homes, the city will soon put that material to good use.
Tempe’s Public Works Department will go to certain neighborhoods in the area between Priest Drive, Rio Salado Parkway and Broadway and Rural roads, collecting the green waste next week.
“We can divert that material from the landfill and bring it our yard, grind it, process it, and let nature do its thing in terms of turning that material into compost,” Tempe Deputy Public Works Director John Osgood said.
When the organic material is turned into compost in several months it will be used throughout the city in public parks, community gardens and even residences.
“We are taking the negative of the storm damage and we are turning it into a positive by using the material that would otherwise be thrown away and turning it into a usable product for our residents,” Osgood said.
Residents with green waste must call ahead to Tempe 311 by Monday and have the material out by Tuesday for pickup at the curb next Thursday morning.