Imagine having to gut your flood damaged home. You've loaded the debris on to your trailer and in your efforts to be responsible you travel to your local landfill. That's when you receive the bad news that your landfill can't take your debris. For a lot of flood affected Louisiana citizens that has been reality the past few days. Things should be changing very soon thanks to a new order signed by the Department of Environmental Quality Secretary Chuck Carr Brown.

What many of us may not know is that not all landfills can accept all kinds of trash. These restrictions are actually put in place for our own safety. However,in a time of emergency exceptions can be made. According to Greg Landry a spokesman for DEQ.

This order will allow them temporarily to be able to receive carpet and furniture, along with drywall and timber and things like that.

This should expedite debris removal from flood affected areas. Landry in his comments to the Louisiana Radio Network also explained the policy for discarding damaged appliances.

Normally what happens with those is they’re scavenged. What can be recycled is recycled, and the rest will just be crushed and disposed of.

Besides getting in the way of cleanup and rebuilding efforts Landry suggested in his comments that there is a bigger reason for wanting to clear debris from affected areas as soon as possible.

It’s wet carpet and wet clothes and wet drywall, and that all produces an unpleasant odor. It can mildew and mold and things that are unhealthy.

Unfortunately many home owners will be forced to deal the possibility of mold in their homes. Having a festering pile of mold spore producing debris just feet from their homes would not be a good thing. This should help alleviate the threat of mold from an outside source creating a health hazard inside a rebuilt structure.

This special order from the DEQ is set to expire on September 30th. This should give homeowners, contractors, and construction companies ample time to clear away flood debris in the affected areas.

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