The state’s proposed Bond Bill has set aside money to keep the popular Polly Drummond yard waste site east of Newark.
The bill, which sets aside money for construction and other projects, will be voted on before this year’s legislative session concludes early Monday.
Gov. John Carney has already signed a $4.4 billion operating budget bill for Fiscal 2020. The site had been slated to close on June 30.
State Rep. Michael Smith, R-Newark, announced the decision. Smith and other legislators from the Newark area urged the Delaware Department of Natural Resources and Environmental Control to keep the site open.
“Over the next year, I’ll continue to work on finding for a new, alternative location. But, for now, the Polly Drummond will remain open,” Smith stated.
The Polly Drummond site is not ideal since it borders on White Clay Creek State Park and is subject to other types of dumping. DNREC officials fear that invasive plants and insects could end up at the dump site.
Yard waste has become an issue in New Castle County as the state’s recycling laws were changed and a site in the Delaware City area became a new Department of Motor Vehicles center.
For a time, the state paid private operators to accept yard waste at no charge. That changed and the Polly Drummond site became the only free drop-off point, with the Bear and north Wilmington areas lacking a drop-off point.
Residents have the option of paying extra to a commercial refuse hauler, but many dump their yard waste in utility rights of way or woods, leading to clean-up costs.
The Delaware Solid Waste Authority has reportedly acquired property in the Pencader industrial-warehouse area south of Newark as a recycling location.
The DSWA has not responded to request for comment on its plans for the site.
