Elgin running a special collection to deal with storm debris

Elgin is staging a special pickup to collect the remaining tree limbs and brush that a pair of Friday storms left all over the city.

The collection begins Wednesday and continues through the following Wednesday.

Crews will also run the special collection this Saturday.

"We do this quite often after a serious storm," said city spokeswoman Sue Olafson.

Regular trash pickup will run as scheduled and the city will retrieve tree limbs and brush the day after your normal garbage collection.

Public works officials ask that you trim the brush and limbs into 4-foot sections, bundle them into piles less than 50 pounds and leave them curbside for pickup on your normal trash day.

The city will collect anything the following day that's too big for Waste Management, said Jim Bell, Elgin's superintendent of parks.

Friday's storms resulted in widespread damage throughout the city and hit the east side particularly hard, Bell said.

There were only 46 calls for service this time around, as the city recently removed 252 hazardous trees, Bell said.

City leaders do not yet have an estimate on what the special pickup will cost Elgin, but say they will release a figure once the collections have concluded, Olafson said.