Tulsa residents hit hardest by last week’s storms will have tree limbs and other green waste picked up for free starting Monday.
The free pickups will cover 53 square miles of the city south of 41st Street and east of the Arkansas River. Crews will work about 10 hours a day, six days a week, but stormwater maintenance manager Roy Teeters said be patient, because it will take awhile to get to everyone.
"We're estimating right now that it's going to take somewhere between 45 and 60 days to go through the whole area," Teeters said.
Only green waste will be picked up. It must be within 4 feet of the curb and away from utilities and fire hydrants. Debris piles also need to be on the grass, even though that may not be good for it.
"The safety issues of having that material piled in the street outweighs the concern of grass. We don't want someone running into piles," Teeters said. "And, we can't have that material put in the street in the event that it rains. A lot of that material would flow down the street, stop up the storm drains and cause flooding."
Anyone living in the affected area who has already called the city for a bulky waste pickup for tree limbs and the like will be covered by the special green waste pickup.
