MANSFIELD — Last year, the City of Mansfield collected approximately 5,249 cubic yards of leaves.
That’s enough to cover an entire football field almost three feet deep.
So what happens to all those leaves?
According to Steve Lump, a supervisor in the city street department, the leaves get composted at a city facility on Park Avenue East.
Compost from previous years is free to all city residents and can be picked up year-round.
Residents can do their own loading on weekdays from 7 a.m. to 5 p.m. They can also call in and schedule a time for city employees to load up the compost for them.
Lump said it takes about six weeks to collect leaf piles from curbsides citywide each fall. A combination of street, sewer and water department workers pitch in to complete this task.
Lump said most of the leaves are collected during the first round, but the team typically covers the city twice to ensure everything is collected.
City compost has problematic history
Farmers and gardeners know that compost is gold in the garden.
According to the National Resources Defense Council, adding compost to your garden can improve soil health, lessen erosion and conserve water.
Composting also has environmental benefits. It provides a way to recycle organic waste and cut methane emissions from landfills.
But Lump said the city is giving away less compost now than when he first joined the department around 27 years ago.
“It seems like we’re taking more than we give away,” he said.
It may be because of problems with the compost itself.
Mansfield resident Linda Nunes-Quimby said her family used city compost for the last time in 2022.
“I used to use it for the garden, but we ended up with terrible weeds from it,” she said.
Nunes-Quimby said she wasn’t sure what type of weeds invaded her garden, but the family switched to store-bought compost this year.
In 2016, poison hemlock started popping up in community gardens that were using city compost.
Poison hemlock is an invasive plant looks similar to Queen Anne’s Lace and parsnip. Every part of the plant is poisonous and can lead to the death of people and animals alike.
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Mansfield’s then-Service Complex Supervisor Dave Lorenz admitted Poison Hemlock seeds may have contaminated the compost.
“The leaves come from the entire city,” Lorenz said at the time.
“We’ll probably never know if it came from a homeowner or from wildlife. But there’s always a possibility it will get in the compost.”
Lump said the city doesn’t remove grass clippings, flowers or weeds from city compost.
“It would be a nonstop process,” he said. “We don’t have the time or the manpower.”
He also said he wasn’t aware of the issue with Poison Hemlock in 2016.
“Our people here, they don’t have degrees in horticulture, so if there’s something poisonous in a pile of leaves, we’re not looking for that,” he said.
The city compost site is a Class IV facility, meaning its authorized to accept yard waste under the Ohio Environmental Protection Agency.
Class IV facilities are regulated by the Ohio Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) and have to meet certain requirements under Ohio law. They do not have specified quality standards for the compost they distribute.
“Compost facilities are required to remove obvious solid waste, such as plastic bags, wrappers, and plastic bottles from yard waste, but it isn’t practical to pick through for undesirable plants,” said Dina Pierce, media coordinator with the Ohio EPA.
“Residents and municipal composters can work together to educate people on what should and shouldn’t go into yard waste for composting, including poisonous plants. Solid waste management districts are also a community source of educational information for composting programs.”
County offers mulch for sale
Mansfield isn’t the only municipal mulch operation in the area.
The Richland County Solid Waste Authority makes and sells mulch from its facility at 441 Cairns Road.
Residents can bring yard waste like leaves, brush, tree limbs and grass clippings during business hours, but there is a fee. Last year, the facility took in 3,0003 tons of yard waste.
Director Eddie Hale said the facility offers a leaf-only compost, which usually sells out within three to four weeks in the spring.
The facility also sells mulch in different textures and gives away wood chips for free, Hale said.
“People mulch with it, but they also use it for animal bedding,” Hale said.
Hale said all incoming yard waste is screened for contaminants.
“We have a full-time employee at all times and he inspects the load. That’s one of the things we look for is the poison hemlock,” he said.
“We will recheck the load if we suspect that that’s in the load.”
Hale said most people won’t have poison hemlock in their yards. It’s more likely to grow in roadside ditches.
The facility does not accept food waste or root balls, which can contain rocks that damage the equipment.
The Cairns Road facility is open March through November. Hale said residents can still come to purchase mulch or get rid of yard waste, but they’ll have to call and make an appointment.
“If there’s like a winter storm, an ice storm or something, we always open up for at least a week so people can come,” he said. “We usually open back up the first week of March.”
