Windham Leaf and Brush Disposal Site preparing for seasonal opening

By Ed Pierce

It seems like summer just started but falling leaves tell a different story for Windham residents as their yards fill up with leaves and piles of unwanted brush that have accumulated on their property since spring. The big question is how to get rid of it.

The Windham Leaf and Brush Disposal Site will be open
from Saturday, Oct. 17 to Sunday, Nov. 8 at the end of
Enterprise Drive off Route 302 behind the self-storage
building in North Windham. COURTESY PHOTO

With that in mind, Windham’s Department of Public Works has announced the dates for dropping off leaves and brush for fall disposal and residential clean-ups in town.

The Windham Leaf and Brush Disposal Site will officially open for the fall season at 7 a.m. Saturday, Oct. 17 and will wrap up operations for the fall season at 6 p.m. Sunday, Nov. 8. The Leaf and Brush Disposal Site can be found at the very end of Enterprise Drive off Route 302 behind the self-storage building in North Windham.

According to Windham DPW officials, residents who are dropping off items for disposal at the Leaf and Brush Disposal Site need to separate leaves from brush and place them in the appropriate areas where the marked and the posted signs indicate at the disposal site.

For residents transporting leaves to the Leaf and Brush Disposal Site in paper or plastic bags, DPW requests that the leaves be removed from the bags and the bags taken back home for proper disposal there. They also ask that residents not bring any unwanted brush or branches larger than 12 inches in diameter to the site for disposal.

Grass clippings are allowed to be dumped at the Windham Leaf and Brush Disposal Site, but large heavy tree stumps are not permitted for disposal there. And, DPW says that residents are not allowed to dump garbage, metal, trash, rubble, old televisions or appliances at the facility.

For new residents who were wondering, the Town of Windham does not offer a collection for leaves at the curb, and bags of leaves should not be placed in weekly recycling bins for collection.

Each fall about 600 to 700 yards in cubic feet of leaves and unwanted brush are typically collected at the town’s Leaf and Brush Disposal Site.

Windham DPW officials say to use the service, load up your vehicle and take the bags for disposal to the Leaf and Brush Disposal Site which will be open around the clock, 24 hours a day to Windham residents.

While Windham's Public Works department once handled both spring and fall brush disposal services, the town is assisted in this bi-annual collection by R.J Grondin and Sons, a family-owned construction company.

Larry Grondin, vice president of Grondin and Sons, said that it was a "good fit" to offer the town assistance with brush disposal.

"After we helped with Public Works' new building, the initial plan was to just help out while construction was taking place,” he said. “Though we settled on us taking over with the brush disposal entirely since they no longer had the room for it. It's worked out so far for us both and we like working with them."

Grondin said that all materials gathered during the spring and fall brush seasons are given new life through the Grondin and Sons company. Instead of burning the leaves and brush like residents in the past once would, Grondin and Sons find new purposes for the materials.

The leaves are composted, and wood-based materials collected are used to create new heating materials.

Grondin said it’s great knowing that the leaves and brush gathered are repurposed rather than trashed at a waste facility. These disposed materials in Windham gain a new purpose, and it also provides residents with a local site place to self-dispose of leaves and brush free of charge.

To learn more about Windham’s Leaf and Brush Disposal Site, call the Windham Public Works Department at 207-892-1909 or visit www.windhammaine.us. <