News Photo by Steve Schulwitz Trash bags filled with yard waste sit on the side of the road in Alpena waiting to be picked up. Next year, residents will have to use biodegradable paper bags if they want their waste collected by the city.

ALPENA — Beginning next year, residents in Alpena will be required to use special paper composting bags in order to have the city pick up their yard waste during collection events.

Currently, the city allows its residents to utilize plastic trash bags to collect yard waste, but in order to reduce labor, limit the amount of plastic going into landfills, and to help speed up the composting process, the city is moving forward with the change.

Composting bags tend to be slightly more costly than typical garbage bags, but offer environmental benefits.

The city will only collect yard debris next year that is in the paper composting bags, and not the ones that are biodegradable and appear similar to plastic.

The cost of five 30-gallon composting paper bags at Walmart is about $2.50 for five bags, which equates to $0.50 per bag.

It costs $5.62 for 20 of the 30-gallon Walmart brand plastic trash bags, which is about $0.28 each.

In a press release on Tuesday, the city said it is encouraging its residents to begin using the composting bags this year, but the mandate won’t take effect until 2026.

People will get an opportunity to try the composting bags during lawn-waste pick-up days, which begin on May 19. When the city does one of its curbside pickups for lawn debris.

Curbside pickup is only for residential properties in the city.

For the upcoming pickup, the city says all bagged lawn waste material shall be placed on the curbline before 6 a.m. on May 19.

Any material placed at the curb after 6 a.m. will not be collected, and any material shall not be placed more than 48 hours in advance of Monday morning. Bags may sit in front of your house for up to four days before being collected. Bagged lawn waste shall contain lawn waste only. No soil, brushes, or household waste will be accepted. In the event that a pile has not been removed for any of the above reasons, city employees will place a door hanger at the residence explaining the reasoning. Any materials left within the right-of-way shall be removed within seven days to prevent code enforcement involvement.

In the press release, the city said that due to the ongoing state of emergency from the ice storm, the 2025 brush and lawn waste pickup schedule hasn’t been determined fully yet. Residents should watch for future notices when the schedule becomes available.

However, the public works center, located at 1001 Long Lake Avenue, is open daily, Monday through Friday, from 7 a.m. to 3 p.m. for drop-off of lawn materials for Alpena residents only. DPW will also be open on Saturdays and Sundays from 8 a.m. to 2 p.m., for drop off of lawn materials through October.

Brush drop-off is not permitted at DPW, and all bagged lawn material shall be deposited where directed by the onsite signage and Public Works employees. Bagged material shall be emptied from non-compostable bags as directed, and a trash receptacle will be available for disposal of bags.

Steve Schulwitz can be reached at 989-358-5689 or sschulwitz@TheAlpenaNews.com. Follow him on X @ss_alpenanews.com.