GARLAND, Texas — Landfills across North Texas are seeing a huge uptick in storm debris drop-offs.
For a sixth straight day, it has been a revolving door of trucks at the Hinton Landfill in Garland.
"[The storm] has done a lot more damage than you would intuitively anticipate," said Chris Hoofnagle, Disposal Director with the city of Garland.
Hoofnagle tells WFAA the Hinton Landfill has seen almost 2,700 tons of trees and brush since last Tuesday. The landfill is also seeing about 300 trucks a day which is a lot more than the daily average of 60 trucks per day.
Trees and limbs that did not survive the storm end up in the wood recycling area of the landfill. That part of the landfill is on two acres and the city expects that area to be filled up with brush and trees by the end of the month.
"In four days we've received half of our monthly total [of trees and brush]," said Hoofnagle.
Hinton is certainly not the only landfill seeing a sharp increase in activity.
Nearby Melissa Landfill which is operated by North Texas Municipal Water had 5,300 tons of solid waste just last Wednesday. The landfill normally averages about 3,900 tons a day.
WFAA met with Ajay Sharma who decided to take care of his debris and not use private trash haulers or wait for the city to take it away. Sharma is from Murphy and he only lost a few tree limbs and branches at his home.
"I happened to have a pickup truck so I said 'let's load it up," Sharma said. "It's quite a bit. I hope they don't run out of room," Sharma said looking at the large pile of debris at the landfill.
Most of the brush will be ground into mulch and compost which saves room at the landfill and gives it back to the community.
"Our biggest customer is the Parks Department. The Garland Parks Department uses it in all their flower beds and medians," said Hoofnagle.
Cities across North Texas are pleading for patience as crews make their way around neighborhoods to pick up debris. They also advise people to separate their trees and brush from any other type of debris from the storms.
If you have any debris, stack it and leave it by the curb. It’s important to check with your city on the removal process because some areas use drop-off locations.