LEE COUNTY, Fla. — NBC2 got a first look at a Lee County debris management site on the corner of U.S. 41 and Cocoa Road in Estero.
The 20-acre property was vacant until the county hired CrowderGulf as its debris manager. The contractor put a debris removal plan in action as Ian formed in the tropics.
Hurricane Ian left thousands of homes in rubble. CrowderGulf opened 15 debris management sites to process and transport debris to its final destination, like a landfill, scrapyard, recycle center, etc. Debris is separated into vegetation, construction material, and electronic piles.
There, vegetation is turned into mulch through a grinder on site. The mulch is sometimes brought to a sanitization site before it’s sold for profit or laid down in public parks.
CrowderGulf believes the operation’s 350 crews will be needed for 6 to 8 more months.
On Wednesday, CrowdeGulf reported that 3 million cubic yards of debris were processed. The Estero site is responsible for 400,000 of that total.