By Heidi Glaus

St. Louis (KSDK) -- Big storms will knock limbs and leaves all over St. Louis.  NewsChannel 5 viewer Christine Fink wanted to know what happens to all that debris, so Heidi Glaus went to the St. Louis City Forestry Division to find out the answer in this week's Hey Heidi segment.

Let's face it, Mother Nature isn't always so motherly, and that means a lot of lifting, dragging and tossing for the St. Louis City Forestry Division. But first and foremost, their job is to make things safe after a storm.

"Our crews go out and make things safe, right always first, streets and alleys. After that, we go after limbs and trees that are on homes and properties," explains Greg Hayes, the Forestry Commissioner.

When you consider the city of St. Louis covers more than 60 square miles, the crews stay pretty busy.

"We handle about 25,000 work requests a year," Hayes says.

The big stuff is cut up and heads north.

"We dispose of it mainly up in north St. Louis on Halls Street," Hayes adds.

The smaller stuff ends up in a wood chipper.

"Anything 20 inches or less in diameter we blow in those trucks," Hayes points out.

They not only cruise the streets looking for debris, but rely heavily on phone calls from the public.

Then, there's this hot mess.

"Those are from all of the leaves from the city of St. Louis that citizens put out at the street curb, picked up from the street department from October through December," Hayes explains.

By the way, it's free for you to pick-up. As you can tell, it's a busy department and just think we didn't even discuss weed control and tree removal.

 

KSDK