Ian speeds up fall cleaning

Southern Pines was one of the communities in the Carolinas that was hardest hit by January’s ice storm, in terms of both power outages and the number of trees that were damaged. As a result, it has taken nearly three months for the town’s solid waste vendor, GFL Environmental, to pick up all of the debris piles that remained. Representatives from both the town and GFL drove all of the residential neighborhoods last week to confirm any areas with outstanding storm debris piles and to develop a prioritized list of routes.

As a result, two trucks will be dedicated to storm debris collection, with the anticipation of completing this task within the next two weeks. The other two trucks currently serving Southern Pines will resume the normal schedule of collecting debris from residential neighborhoods every two weeks. The goal is to have the entire town finished by the end of April and back on the routine biweekly collection schedule.

Assistant Town Manager, Jessica Roth, shares, “We thank the community for their patience as we worked with GFL through this challenge. We know that everyone is tired of seeing the remaining piles, especially now that spring is here and people want to enjoy their yards and neighborhood. We appreciate those residents who took advantage of our reimbursement program and hauled their debris to the landfill as well as those who have contacted Town staff to report areas still in need of a collection.”

“We’d also like to thank GFL for dedicating resources to Southern Pines with the addition of two extra trucks and drivers. Over 2,000 tons of debris has been collected since the storm. To put that into perspective, we collected approximately 4,300 tons over all 12 months of FY 20-21.”

For those town residents who have hauled storm debris to the Moore County landfill, please submit your landfill receipt(s) — maximum of two — to the attention of Debra Fisher at Town of Southern Pines, 801 SE Service Road, Southern Pines, NC 28387. Receipts are due by May 31 and qualified reimbursements will be credited to the resident’s utility bill.

For questions or concerns regarding these clean-up efforts, the reimbursement program, or the town’s sanitation services, please contact Assistant Public Works Director Cory Albers at (910) 692-1983 or [email protected].

File photo.

Contributed.

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