In response to the most destructive hurricane to hit the Northeastern United States in generations, Looks Great Services was activated by our clients through our pre-event stand-by contracts. Looks Great Services was activated by 14 clients where we managed over 1.8 Million Cubic Yards of vegetative debris, construction and demolition debris (C&D), sand, household hazardous waste, white goods, recyclable metals and e-waste. The video above gives an aerial view of some of our Temporary Debris Staging and Reduction Sites (TDSRS) where the debris was managed.
The first site shown is our TDSRS for beach sand recovery in the City of Long Beach, NY (local media named it Mount Sandy). A quarter million cubic yards of sand that was washed ashore by the storm surge was removed from the streets and public properties by Looks Great Services and stockpiled at this location for beneficial re-use. The sand was then screened to remove any solid contaminants such as nails, asphalt, and C&D. We then tested the sand for any hazardous materials that may have contacted the sand in the streets. Once the tests came back from the lab certified for use on public beaches, Looks Great Services placed the sand back on the beach to create an Emergency Protective Berm.
The next two sites shown, Eisenhower Park and Cantiague Park, give a representation of the many vegetative sites managed by Looks Great Services during this event. Vegetative material consisting of tens of thousands of trees blown down or damaged by Hurricane Sandy, including thousands of stumps removed by Looks Great Services. The debris was then segregated by type, stumps were sheered into manageable pieces and then all material was reduced in volume by grinding it into chips. The resulting wood chips were then hauled to locations on Long Island or barged off of Long Island to other states for beneficial reuse. In at least one example, the chips were utilized as a soil supplement on a large vegetable farm.
The next site in the video, Nickerson Beach Park, shows an example of site management, staging, segregation and separation of C&D into clean C&D, household hazardous waste, white goods, recyclable metals and e-waste. Each of these debris streams was managed by trained and qualified personnel and was transported to the most efficient and environmentally acceptable disposal site. Recycling of material for beneficial reuse is always a priority with Looks Great Services. Constant air monitoring and dust control measures ensured an environmentally safe operation as well as protection of our employees and the surrounding civilian population. At our request, the US EPA collocated with Looks Great Services at this site as a base of operations for the federal response on Long Island.
The last site shows our barging and crane operation where the C&D material was loaded onto barges and transported up the Hudson River to licensed landfills near Albany, NY. Although we transported almost 200,000 cubic yards of C&D by barge, the operation only took 16 days, and no material ever touched the environmentally sensitive waters and estuaries along the route. This operation garnered high praise for the New York State Department of Environmental Compliance, and the US EPA.
