Biodegradable bags may be required
for Churchville garden debris disposal

The Village of Churchville’s Board of Trustees is considering a new requirement that all garden debris be placed at the curb in biodegradable paper bags which village crews would continue to pick-up every other Monday from spring through the end of summer.

Department of Public Works Superintendent Dave Adams said the current method of placing the organic waste into garbage cans poses a hazard to village employees. "The biggest issue is lifting the cans into the truck," he told board members at their March 4 meeting.

The village does not have a truck designed to empty garbage cans into, so on Monday pickups DPW employees must lift the cans - often full of weeks’ worth of heavy, wet matter - up over the side of the large truck. Adams said the cans do not always contain garden waste only, and the contents can splash back onto workers and run down their arms. "It's not the most pleasant job," he said.

Adams said the biodegradable paper bags can be purchased at stores such as Wegmans and Tops for about the same price as plastic lawn and leaf bags, and one large one will last most people all season.

"I’ve been using them for a couple of years and I love them," he said. Adams said the bags are easy to fill, durable, and said he has left them outside partially full for months without experiencing problems with sogginess. "I still couldn’t shake stuff out the bottom," he said.

He said switching to the bags will not only prevent injuries to the DPW staff, but will save time and look neater at the curb. He said the bags should break down in the village’s compost pile at about the same rate as the plant clippings and leaves.

Village Trustee Lyle Warren said he contacted the Village of LeRoy, which has already made the switch to biodegradable bags, and said it seems to work fine there. He asked Adams whether the bags are available in different sizes. "The biodegradable bags are too large for some people," Warren said.

Adams said many residents of Churchville Greene have been using paper grocery bags to put out garden waste, and that works fine. Crews just toss the entire bag into the compost pile.

Village Clerk Sue Davis said the village has a supply of the biodegradable bags for residents who come in and ask for them, and she encouraged the board to purchase more. "I’d just as soon have a supply of the bags on hand. They’re not a big expense, and then if somebody calls and has a real hardship, we can supply them," she said.

Adams said the bags should be used for garden clippings, weeds, small shrub trimmings, and leaves picked up during spring cleaning. Autumn leaves will still be collected by bulk pick-up, and grass clippings should be left on lawns to decompose.

"(Monroe County) is really promoting ‘grasscycling’—it’s better for your yard and for everything," Adams said. Grasscycling is the process of leaving grass clippings where they fall to nourish lawns as they break down, reduce waste, and reduce runoff of pesticides and herbicides at dump sites.

Warren said he would write up a formal proposal to mandate the use of the biodegradable bags and have it ready for the next Village Board meeting, March 18, at 7:15 p.m. at the Village Hall.