CASEY BERUBE
WESTFIELD – Department of Public Works Deputy Superintendent Casey Berube said Aug. 10 – 21 DPW trucks and crew will collect brush and limbs brought down by Tropical Storm Isaias along with the regular trash pickups for residents on non-recycling weeks.
“Residents who are putting out trash can bring brush and limbs to the road, if it’s not their recycling week,” Berube said, adding they are doing the collection in order to give residents some relief, or at least a disposal avenue for them. He said they won’t do the pickup when recycling receptacles are out to avoid getting in the way of the recycling trucks
“It’s a good service to assist taxpayers to clean up this mess. if someone has a limb down and they drag it to the curb, we’ll chip it up that way,” he said.
Berube said they will continue the brush cleanup for two weeks, in order to sweep the city. Brush and limb debris will be taken to 360 Recycling, at the end of Sgt. Tom Dion Way.
“This is going to be a long process. Just to do the curbside stuff will be two weeks for us. We’re hoping to get everything in this two week period,” Berube said, adding that due to the severity of the storm he’s not sure how many people weren’t impacted.
Berube said the DPW has done a citywide brush cleanup before, after the winter snowstorm in 2011 that brought down a lot of debris.
All DPW available staff is currently out collecting debris and doing cleanup from the storm. On Wednesday alone, they had 200 related issue calls. “We’ve been out actively picking up limbs, removing trees, and collecting storm debris,” he said.
