After math: C&D recyclers play an important role in storm cleanup.

There is a Pennsylvania Dutch saying, "The hurrieder I go, the behinder I get. That is especially true when it comes to removing debris after a disaster. Everyone is in an understandable hurry to get the mess out of the way. Efforts to sort and process recyclable fractions can fall way behind if proper resources are not available.

But capitalism is a great motor for driving cleanup efforts, says Jeremy Lincoln, vice president of National Recycling Services, Erie, Pa.

"People need money and know that there is value to metals. They come out of nowhere and bring materials in the site," he says. "I'm a scrap man, and the scrap system has a free-enterprise attitude. Where there is a will, there's a way, and people always find a way to bring in materials."

MATERIAL ISSUES

The metal fraction almost always finds its way to a processor. Wood, trees and landscape debris can be another story.

"Speedy response is what the cities want," says Ryan Hobbs, director of operations at Texas Disposal Systems in Austin. "For them, it is a health and safety issue. They need someone to clean up downed or creaky and rocky trees."

Not all disasters are as sweeping as 2005's Hurricane Katrina. In Central Texas, ice storms are a frequent mini-disaster that cities face. In addition, the region is blessed or cursed with large oak trees, and ice storms wreak havoc with them. In some cases, Texas Disposal Systems has a contract in place to come to the town's aid. In others, the municipality will simply ask them to get there fast and worry about payment later.

Texas Disposal Systems handles about 150,000 cubic yards of material per year.

Lincoln worked as a subcontractor to the Army Corps of Engineers during Katrina and found that everything went as smoothly as could be hoped.

"We got disaster relief exemptions to move equipment without permits right away," Lincoln recalls. "They came from the Army Corps in Louisiana to us." There was no governmental delay in this case--the permits were faxed up to Pennsylvania.

In fact, the only holdup of any kind National experienced was a slight delay in getting its people registered as workers. Each person had to have health papers and needed to pose for a laminated photo ID.

GETTING WAIVERS

"The decision to grant a permit depends on a variety of factors," says Mark Williams, administrator of the solid waste planning branch of the Mississippi Department of Environmental Quality in Jackson. "The decision to grant a permit is not made in a vacuum." He notes that, beyond environmental considerations, there are factors like contractual agreements that must be considered before permits or waivers are granted.

"First we see who the players are, who will manage the debris in an area," Williams says. "Here in Mississippi--and I think everywhere there is a desire to see local people get a piece of the pie after a disaster," he continues. That may dictate the process on who gets contracts and who gets subcontracts.

However, few municipalities anywhere have the ability to go out and grant waivers or permit landfill sites on their own. "They have to coordinate with an agency like our own," Williams says. State agencies look at the capacity requirements, the kinds of debris being handled, the need for debris to be separated. But everyone recognizes the need for speed.

"The states are quick to grant waivers. Otherwise, there would be stuff piled up in the streets," says Lincoln. "We get metals off the street and some needed cash to the people who bring it in," he says. "Anytime the word gets out that there is a recycling center open, the material will come to you very fast."

In fact, after a hurricane blasted through Miami a couple of years ago, there was aluminum piled high for an entire city block or more near a group of recycling yards. Locals brought in tons of aluminum--way beyond the local dealers' ability to process the material.

The Miami dealers called in National Recycling. They set up a baler in the street, which had long been shut down, and started munching away at the scrap from one end of the street to the other.

"People with pickups were bringing in material trying to earn a little money," Lincoln says. "It was way beyond what anyone anticipated."

Hobbs says they typically leave the permitting to the city. However, some communities have laws that forbid the city, itself, from coming onto private property. Using a third party like Texas Disposal is a way to skirt that problem.

They favor using a city transfer station or a spot in the area affected by the disaster.

"States don't want massive piles of C&D waste laying around," Hobbs notes. "If you are diligent and working hard, they are understanding."

Hobbs notes that his company runs its own transfer station in Georgetown, north of Austin. "Often, the city will ask if we can extend our operating hours," he says. In recent disasters, they have kept things going until 9 p.m. and even opened on Sundays to help the cleanup efforts.

"We bring grinders to Georgetown. This summer, we have 19,000 cubic yards of brush to process," Hobbs says. The material will be given to area residents free of charge. The remainder will be used as a bulking agent at the company's compost facility.

HELPING HANDS

The recycling community is a relatively small one, so after a disaster local recyclers are quick to call companies with C&D experience for help. However, there are times when help comes from unexpected places.

"We have the ability to do different things in different areas," Williams notes. He says a disaster like Katrina in Mississippi was really two different disasters: a storm surge along the coast that left a huge debris field of natural rubble; and a wide swath of wind damage that took down trees and lifted roofs as far away as Columbus and Jackson. That was definitely a situation where consideration and waivers would be made. But there are no guarantees.

"It is not a given that waivers will be granted just because a disaster occurs," Williams says. Typically, they will bring in contract geologists and drillers to evaluate the sites proposed for staging or disposal. "We look at proximity to wetlands and to neighborhoods," he says. They are mindful of zoning laws. Sometimes a site may be handy, but it is not a good match for other reasons. Sites often operate 24x7 and people do not want trucks and grinders disturbing their lives.

Sometimes, however, just getting equipment is a challenge. When the massive F5 tornado demolished Greensburg, Kan., on May 4, the town was left with huge piles of debris to dear away before rebuilding could begin. That's when Murphy Tractor--a John Deere Construction Equipment dealer with 16 locations in Kansas, Iowa, Missouri and Nebraska--donated a 624J loader equipped with a grapple bucket and an 850J Waste Handler dozer.

In the Greensburg case, a landfill was specially built for the disaster.

"The devastation in Greensburg is just immense, and this equipment was sorely needed," says Tom Udland, president of Murphy Tractor in Wichita. "We're glad to be in a position to help our neighbors as they clean up and begin to rebuild their community."

The first task for the 624J was picking up splintered wood from houses and trees for transfer to the landfill, where it can be burned to make room for other debris.

In addition to the 850J and 624J, Murphy Tractor provided a 655C crawler loader to neighboring Stafford County, which also suffered damage from the storm.

Not everyone understands the capabilities of recycling equipment. For instance, in Katrina's aftermath, affected towns almost ran out of space before the government allowed full-bore processing of white goods. In fact, there was no more room in the lines of trailers and loader-trailers that were bringing goods to a special site. But within three weeks, National had three balers working 24x7. "That lasted about a month," Lincoln says.

Getting human resources is another challenge.

LABOR INTENSIVE 

Hobbs says that municipal labor is a good place to find people to augment their own personnel. City employees are familiar with dump trucks and loaders.

"Most cities have a public works department or a streets and bridges department that will provide us with labor," Hobbs says. However, the company likes to keep a list of their own people to help out with disasters.

"We're only interested in having our own people on our equipment," Hobbs says.

Still, they welcome the influx of drivers and laborers who can work with city dump trucks. The city's fleet will augment the grinders and walking-floor 125-yard trailers that Texas Disposal Systems owns itself.

Some people ask, only partly with tongue in cheek, whether C&D handlers can't wait for the next money-making opportunities. "I hope there is nothing of the size and scope of Katrina again," Lincoln says. "It's great for business," he admits, but horrible for the people involved. "Never again, I hope."

The author is a contributing editor based in Cleveland. He can be contacted at [e-mail].