How can you help to protect environmentally sensitive areas in Windsor?
To help protect the environmentally sensitive areas, please do not dump leaves, grass clippings, dog waste and other yard waste in public wetlands and green space. The dumping of yard waste is not only harmful but also illegal. As leaves and grass break down they become soil, and that soil fills in the wetlands. Filled wetlands do not offer the same flood storage capacity, so the risk for downstream flooding is increased. In addition, dumping yard waste into wetlands can alter the water chemistry of the wetlands, causing nutrient overload. Leaves and grass clippings are one of the biggest sources of phosphorus for urban lakes and wetlands. This phosphorus causes excess algae growth and contributes to unhealthy lakes with murky water that looks gross and can sometimes even be dangerous. As wetlands become over-saturated with nutrients, they also lose their ability to filter water traveling to lakes and rivers and sometimes even become a source of pollution for those downstream waterbodies. Finally, filling wetlands destroys wetland habitat for creatures such as salamanders, frogs and turtles.
If you don't have the space, or ability to compost your leaves and/or grass clippings, the
Windsor Recycling Center accepts those items.
