In October, the ALCC office receives many calls from people who want help with leaf disposal.  They are told about cities, web sites and other recycling options.

One exceptional caller was the opposite of all the others.  He needed a lot leaves and hoped ALCC had the resources to help him find them.

It seemed the best place to find a truck full of leaves would be from a company that maintains HOAs. Large sites with lots of leaves, right?  So we contacted Marcia Pryor with The Brickman Group, one of the ALCC Sustainable Landscape Partners and passed along the man’s name.

We learned later from Brickman’s Andy Knight, who followed up with the leaf forager, that the man is a permaculture farmer out in Watkins. He uses the leaves for bio-ditches to amend the sandy soil.

According to Knight, the farmer recycled about 11,000 lbs. of leaves on his farm last year. He is arrives with a pick-up truck and trailer at the Brickman yard and loads leaves from an area the team has designated as a holding area. For Knight and others in the company, it was a chance to help someone in the community and dispose of debris in a sustainable way. And, yes, Brickman does recycle green waste on a regular basis and is currently expanding their research on the most cost effective options for recycling large quantities of leaves and other landscape debris.
 
Read more in this issue of Colorado Green NOW:
Lifescape Colorado uses demonstration garden as a sales tool
Who’s taking our labor: oil and gas or food?
ALCC Volunteer Awards
2015 HR alerts: changes in contribution limits