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AURORA – The town recently received a grant from the North Carolina Department of Environmental Quality to aid in the purchase of a new wood chipper. 

“We had an opportunity to apply for a grant to purchase a new chipper. The town’s current machine is ancient and not safe so our public works director got the application done for us. It won’t cover the entire cost of a new chipper but it will certainly help,” Mayor Clif Williams said. 

The grant is part of the 2021 Community Waste Reduction and Recycling program through the NCDEQ and is for $20,000. The estimated cost of the chipper is $36,000 according to the original application filed by public works director Chuck Bonner. 

Aurora’s current chipper is utilized to perform weekly yard maintenance where town residents can place any debris like tree limbs or twigs that are in their yard in the street for clean up. The chipper also handles any debris following a severe storm that passes through the area. 

“Our current chipper is just worn out. We’ve had lots of hurricanes and handling the debris has definitely affected it. It’s really important for the town for us to get a new machine that can handle the volume of debris,” Williams said. 

The town of Aurora is currently undergoing the final stages of accepting the grant and plans to begin searching for a new machine that will meet their needs as soon as possible.