Vehicle flow in and out of the Sudbury landfill site has been non-stop for three days, as Sudburians continue to clean up from Monday's storm.
The volume of yard waste that's piled up at the landfill is more than eight times what it normally is and crews have been working almost sun up to sun down to keep the huge pile of debris as organized as possible.
A stack of branches and leaves roughly 20 feet high and at least 100 feet wide and growing sits at the landfill site, next to a giant pile of tree trunks and leftover wood chips.
"That pile is usually an eighth of the size that it is right now," said Anthony Dembek, supervisor at the landfill. "It's kind of hard to estimate what the volume is that we've taken in. Cars and trucks and trailers full of branches have been coming in non-stop since Tuesday pretty much."
One load of tree material has already been chipped down and sent to Vale, and the chipper will have to be brought back for a second tour of duty to break down the mass of branches and leaves taking up a good deal of landfill real estate.
"Normally the chipper only comes in once a month and he's here for about a day to break everything down," said Dembek. "He's going to have to come back again and this job is probably going to take at least three or four days to clear out."
Vehicle traffic has been constant at the landfill since cleanup began after Monday's storm, but crews caught a bit of a break on Friday due to some damp weather.
"It's been a little quieter today because of the rain, but Wednesday and Thursday cars were backed up all the way to the highway waiting to get in," said Dembek. "It'll be busy again over the weekend, it's probably going to be like this for at least another week. Normally we get about 100 vehicles in here per day, this week it's probably been about 10 times that."
In the meantime, the city and landfill staff are asking that residents try to avoid making trips to the landfill in order to lighten the workload.
"If you can find a use for downed trees or branches, or know someone who can use it for firewood then it would help out for sure," said Dembek. "Or leave it at your curb, city garbage trucks are picking up yard waste at no charge and it makes for less vehicles going in and out."
