Yard Waste & Rubbish

In addition to its normal garbage collection, the Sanitation Department offers free pick-up for residential yard waste and rubbish as described below. A substantial amount of items are also collected for which fees must be paid in advance. The intent of the free yard waste and rubbish service is to provide a convenient method for Fort Payne residents to rid themselves of such items without having to take the time and expense of personally hauling small amounts of such materials to the Fort Payne Landfill. The free residential service has never been intended to provide guaranteed free pick-up for all the possible waste generated by residents.

Yard Waste

Yard Waste is defined as grass trimmings, leaves, limbs, and trimmings from dead trees cut from the resident’s immediate yard area. This material is picked up by brush trucks with hydraulic arms that reach out up to 12 feet and grasp piles of material and then lift the waste up over the sides of the truck.

Rubbish

Rubbish is defined as household goods which originate from inside the house, garage, or basement area which are too large to fit into the 95 gallon garbage can provided by the Sanitation Department. This material may be picked up by the brush trucks with their hydraulic arms or it may be picked up manually by sanitation department crews.

Yard Waste and Rubbish Collection Rules and Procedures

Items Which Are Not Picked-Up

• Paint or other liquids
• Any items which might be considered hazardous
• Stumps or tree trunks heavier than 500 pounds
• Limbs longer than 8 feet
• Loose pine straw, leaves, or grass clippings must be bagged and placed at the curb
• Materials which are scattered and not properly placed in piles for the brush truck
• Individual small boxes or tiny piles or sticks which clearly would have fit inside the 95 gallon cans provided by the City

Items Picked-Up Free of Charge

• Brush, small limbs, grass trimmings, and dead trees cut from the resident’s immediate yard area
• Rubbish originated from inside the house, garage, or basement areas which is too large to fit into the 95 gallon can provided by the City. The list of acceptable items could change with time, but currently includes appliances, furniture, and other such bulky items.

Items Not Picked-Up Free and for which Fees are Charged

• Materials from inside storage sheds, barns, commercial buildings, or vacant/evicted rental properties
• Tires – fees charged are $2/car tire and $5/truck tire
• Substantial amounts of construction materials – scrap lumber, plaster, sheetrock, celotex ceiling, paneling, roofing, concrete, bricks, etc.
• Materials placed on or in front of empty lots or unoccupied buildings not paying sanitation fees
• Materials from torn down sheds, decks, fences, or buildings
• Material generated from the removal of live trees or the severe topping or trimming of large or small shade trees, bushes, brush etc.

Fees Charged and Billing

The current fee for pick-up of items not included in the free residential yard waste and rubbish collection is $80 per load.  This will be paid in advance to City Hall.

Other Important Considerations

• It is not considered important who actually performs remodeling or tree trimming jobs; the volume of waste to be collected determines whether the pick-up will be free or whether a fee will be charged.
• Every effort is made by the Sanitation Department to collect brush and trash on the same day as regular garbage collection. Whenever possible, to avoid unsightly mess and the potential for creating litter, rubbish and brush should be placed on the street right-of-way the day before scheduled collection in boxes or bundles for easy pick-up. Piles must be placed away from fences, buildings, telephone poles, guy wires, and low utility lines. Except for used appliances and furniture, no items which must be picked up by hand should weigh more than 50 pounds.
• The Sanitation Department has sufficient manpower and equipment only to conduct collections as outlined above. Residents are asked to abide by the policy and limit the amount of materials expected to be picked up for free and the frequency with which such materials are set out. With over 5,500 customers, it is not possible to collect materials at every single house every week. Residents are encouraged to haul any of these materials themselves directly to the Fort Payne Landfill at any time during operating hours.
• To avoid any possible misunderstandings, any time a resident will require a large amount of material to be collected, it is best to call the Sanitation Department at 845-0758 and discuss the collection first before placing the material out on the street. For ordinary collections, it is not necessary to call the Sanitation Department unless the material failed to be collected on the scheduled day of collection.
• The brush truck’s tires should remain on pavement while collecting brush or trash to avoid making tire tracks on grass. The brush truck arm reaches only about 12 feet off the road and will not reach down into ditches. The Sanitation Department can assume no responsibility for tire marks or for any damage done to the grass from the truck’s clam shell arm collecting such piles.
• All commercial tree service companies are required to haul their own brush and tree trimmings directly to the landfill. There is no charge for disposal of brush at the landfill. Logs, stumps and large pieces of wood, however, are charged a fee for disposal.
• To clarify further the collection of some items frequently presenting problems, the fee for materials placed in front of empty houses is usually billed directly to the landlord or property owner.

Commercial Collection

The Fort Payne Sanitation Department offers 8 cubic yard front loading containers; 3 cubic yard rear loading dumpsters; and 20, 30, and 40 cubic yard open top roll off containers. For information on obtaining one of these, please call (256) 845-0758.

Collection of the 8 cubic yard front loading containers is offered on a weekly basis, twice per week basis (either Monday-Thursday or Tuesday-Friday), three times per week basis (Monday-Wednesday-Friday) or daily basis (Monday thru Friday). The 3 cubic yard rear loading dumpsters are collected once a week and are located at small businesses scattered along residential routes.

Collection on the 20, 30, and 40 cubic yard open top roll off containers is on a per call basis. The materials accepted are dry industrial waste materials which may be legally accepted at the Fort Payne Landfill and include, but are not limited to, metal, plastic, wood, paper, cardboard, textile waste, etc.

Private Construction/Demolition Waste

The Sanitation Department operates with eight twenty yard open top roll off containers which are utilized for the collection of private construction/demolition waste. These containers are placed upon request at residences or businesses for contractors to use in containing C&D wastes which are accepted at the Fort Payne Landfill. A call-in list is maintained and the containers are hauled for disposal or hauled and returned upon request.

Unlike industrial waste, there is no guarantee that the Sanitation Department will deliver and service containers. A safe place must be present at the job site for the container to sit, be guarded, and be kept accessible at all times. Otherwise, the department will not provide the requested container.

Current Fees

Fort Payne Landfill

The Fort Payne Landfill facility has been in operation for 50 years and contains approximately 104 total acres. Of that total, approximately 44 acres is permitted to accept solid waste for disposal. The remaining land is used for buildings, buffer zones, and for providing cover dirt.

The Landfill is permitted to accept non-hazardous industrial and construction/demolition solid wastes including:

• White Goods
• Clothing
• Yard Waste
• Untreated Wood Waste
• Roofing Shingles
• Tires
• Dried Paint
• Mattresses
• Paper
• Appliances
• Metal Waste
• Non-friable Asbestos and friable asbestos requiring special handling
• Petroleum Contaminated Soil
• Also, the landfill may except dried sludge and other special wastes or industrial wastes provided that a Solid/Hazardous Waste Determination Form has been properly submitted and approved by A.D.E.M. prior to waste disposal.
• All loads are inspected prior to disposal.

Fort Payne Recycling Center

The facility accepts the following items:

• Clean, washed aluminum cans
• Mixed metal including clean washed food cans. No fence wire is accepted
• Used motor oil
• Used automobile batteries
• Styrofoam peanuts
• Narrow necked #2 HDPE plastic bottles such as milk jugs and shampoo bottles
• Narrow necked #1 PET plastic bottles such as soda and water bottles
• Shrink wrap plastic including grocery store and Wal-mart plastic bags
• All glass products
• Clean white office paper and computer paper shredded or not shredded
• Cardboard boxes broken down flat
• All other mixed paper products.