Asharoken considers yard waste program

The Village of Asharoken is considering a pilot program to collect yard waste and leaves in the village.

At Monday night‘s special board meeting, Village Clerk Nancy Rittenhouse presented a plan to the board that would allow monthly pickups, from April to November, of up to seven bags of leaves, gardening waste and branches per residence. It is a way to divert the items from the garbage stream and reduce solid waste costs to the village.

The village board, which is considering swapping out one of the bimonthly newspaper recycling pickups for the leaf pickup, estimates that about 150 households would likely take part in the pilot program.

“The residents need something -- they’ve been asking for this for a long time,” Mayor Patricia Irving said.

The board expects to finalize details of the program at its April 4 meeting.