NORTH LITTLE ROCK, Ark. — After last month's tornado, debris has been very easy to spot in Central Arkansas. Though you may have found yourself wondering about what happens to all of that, and where does it go?
In North Little Rock, it goes to Burns Park, and the cleanup process could last a while.
"It's almost like asking how long is it going to be before a building is built," North Little Rock Fire Department Captain Dustin Free said. "How long is it gonna be before it's done?"
Free is used to seeing the mounds of debris that now fill the parking spaces of the park— like many in the city, he's been working nonstop.
"I haven't had a day off since the Monday before the tornado hit," he said.
He's not complaining though, because he knows there's work to be done.
Cleanup will take a while, but help was immediately on the way, thanks to a years-old contract with a debris removal company based in Alabama.
From broken trees to broken bits of homes, all of those mounds will be mulched and turned into other products.
"We don't want just to take everything and call it trash, you know," Free said. "Mother Nature knocked it down, we want to put it back in a place where it can be reused and not just wasted."
That debris doesn't just exist in North Little Rock or Burns Park— debris cleanup has been happening in Little Rock too, and the city has its own debris drop-off spot in Reservoir Park.
"Guesstimate of what we think is out there, we said anywhere from five to 600,000 cubic yards of material, which is a lot," Jon Honeywell, Director of Little Rock Public Works, said.
He explained that cleanup will take months in Little Rock as well, but you can help make things easier for them.
Separate debris into different categories like electronics, tree material, etc to make their jobs easier. You can also take vegetation directly to Reservoir Park.
"All that stuff, as long as you keep it separated, we're gonna get that picked up over the time frame of this recovery effort," Honeywell said.
In North Little Rock, Free said you can leave debris on the curb and they'll take care of the rest.
Though in both cities, no matter how long it takes, they'll keep mulching along until the work is done.
"All the trees that have fallen in Burns Park, the trees that are getting picked up in the neighborhoods," Free said. "As long as it doesn't have any construction debris in it, it will get repurposed and it won't go to waste, it'll get used again."