A recent video from the Kentucky Transportation Cabinet illustrates how it worked with the Kentucky Energy and Environment Cabinet and other state agencies on a “debris-to-mulch” project that turned thousands of trees downed by major flooding across Eastern Kentucky earlier this year into beneficial mulch.

[Above image via the KYTC]

For the first few weeks after the flooding, KYTC crews focused on removed debris while re-opening several roads and bridges – repairing and replacing damaged bridges with temporary structures.

That work removed more than 403,000 tons of debris from waterways and rights-of-way in Eastern Kentucky as part of the agency’s flood cleanup efforts. The initiative eliminated debris from 48 damaged vehicles while clearing 615 miles of streams and creeks.

Nearly 100,000 tons of wood debris were sent to one of two Kentucky mulching facilities for re-use as part of this program, KYTC noted in the video.

That wood debris ultimately produced about 160,000 cubic yards of mulch; equivalent to almost 2.1 million bags of the mulch product typically sold in home improvement stores, the agency said.