News

December 8, 2009

A trash ‘coal’-lection tradition

Towns pick up ashes at curbside

By Bill O'Boyle boboyle@timesleader.com
Times Leader Staff Writer
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Coal to ashes, ashes to curb.

That was the routine for many years when coal was the primary heating fuel in Northeastern Pennsylvania.

Before people switched to oil or gas or electricity to heat their homes, coal was burned in huge furnaces in most residences. Burning coal left ash residue that had to be lugged out of the cellar and to the curb or the garden, or to provide traction for your snowed-in vehicle.

Decades later, some homes still burn coal for heat. Many municipalities pick up the ashes during regular garbage collection, but some collect the ashes separately. Duryea Borough collects thousands of pounds of ashes per week during the colder months.

No longer used for cindering roads after snowstorms, the ashes end up in landfills, farms or backyard gardens.

“We collect about a ton or more per week,” said Lois Morreale, Duryea Borough manager. “We have about 20 households that we collect ashes from every Friday.”

Morreale said the ashes are collected separately from the regular garbage pickup, although most local towns pick them up as part of the garbage run.

Duryea Mayor Keith Moss, 46, said the ashes can’t be used on the roads any more because some people burn wood, and nails sometimes are in the ashes.

“We just use them as clean fill,” Moss said. “If somebody demolishes a building, we use the ashes to help fill the hole.”

Moss said he has no problem offering the service to residents with coal burners.

“Some of our older residents have burned coal in their homes all their lives,” Moss said. “We don’t want to let those people down. Even if we only have 20 residents that still put them out, we feel it’s important to pick them up.”

Moss said the ashes were great to mix with cinders used to make roads passable during snowstorms.

“They were great for traction,” he said. “A lot of people still use them in their gardens; they tell me ashes are good for the soil.”

Ned Zwiebel, assistant road supervisor in Hanover Township, said ashes are collected as part of the garbage run.

“People just put them out with their garbage,” Zwiebel said. “We used to give them to a local farmer who mixed them with topsoil. Some township residents use ashes in their backyard gardens.”

Zwiebel, who has worked for the township for 23 years, said he remembers collecting a couple of tons of ashes per week years ago.

“People would put out six to eight bushels of ashes back then,” he said.

In Kingston, municipal administrator Keating said he has had no requests from residents to pick up ashes during his 14 years on the job.

Patty Zendarski, refuse clerk in Nanticoke, said ashes are collected as part of the garbage pickups.

Mark Carmon, spokesman for the regional office of the state Department of Environmental Protection, said there are no state regulations regarding the collection/disposal of ashes.

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