Tree debris drop-off sites piling up, curbside pickup on the way

OMAHA, Neb. (KMTV) — The city of Omaha says curbside tree debris pickup will start on Thursday. City leaders are encouraging neighbors to bring debris to one of the five drop-off sites if you can to speed up the process.

• At Hefflinger Park, neighbors like Rob Mathena are dropping off loads of tree debris from last Wednesday's windstorm.
• Public works asks that neighbors put tree debris on the curb, and it will be picked up eventually - saying it could take up to a month to get everyone's debris taken care of.
• The drop-off sites will remain open until August 14.

BROADCAST TRANSCRIPT:

As neighbors continue to cleanup, the drop-off sites continue to grow. But even if you’re waiting for tree limb curbside collection, where will all of this debris go? Because it can’t just stay here. There’s now a plan in place for the parks department to help cleanup the cleanup.

At this drop-off site alone, multiple trucks coming and going to drop off loads of tree debris.

One of those trucks, being Rob Mathena's.

"Both of our fences got knocked down and so we've got that mess cleaned up and then we had some tree limbs and we've gotten that cleaned up with some help from family across the river,” he said.

While this will be his only load, he did have a lot of work to be done over the weekend.

"Got it all piled up and we had a nice little pile next to the driveway and as soon as we got a truck, we got it hauled off."

He says he's one of the lucky ones following Wednesday’s windstorm.

"Very lucky. We have power. Very lucky that this is the only load we'll have to drop off."

City leaders are encouraging neighbors, if you have the ability to bring your debris to one of the five drop-off sites.

They say this will help speed up work in the neighborhoods.

If you aren't able to do that, public works crews will begin collecting tree debris from homes on Thursday.

They ask that you put it on the curb, and it will be picked up eventually - saying it could take up to a month to get everyone's debris taken care of.

"Yeah, just on the ride over here, seeing even more trees and fences down. We're going to see a lot more. It seems like, I think, yeah, this was really phenomenal,” said Mathena.

The debris taken to sites like this one, should be dropped off as it. The city says to leave the paper bags at home.

This is because whatever is left here will be grinded down into mulch.

The drop-off sites will remain open until August 14.