Pickup desk · yard clear-outs
Clearing a laydown yard of empty reels
ASHBURN, Va. — Clearing a laydown yard of empty reels means sorting them first: returnable steel and tagged reels back to their makers, a full truckload of one maker's sound nailed reels to that maker's program if you have one, and everything else to the desk. Then book the clear-out around the site's gate, badging and traffic rules.
From the reel desk · Checked 9 November 2026
Who this is for
Superintendents, project managers and electrical subcontractors on large jobs: data-centre campuses, substations and transmission lines, hospitals, federal campuses. On those jobs cable arrives by the truckload and the empty reels collect in a laydown yard until someone deals with them. Loudoun County alone counts about 233 data-centre buildings and more than 10 million square feet permitted in 2025, so the yards in this region are large and constant.
Step one: sort by owner
Walk the rows before anyone calls a truck.
- Steel reels. Read the stencil, the serial number and any code (RM, RMT, NR). Southwire's steel reels are returnable with a charge on the invoice, credited only if the reel goes back within 12 months of shipment, with notice by email, website or app, not phone. Start that paperwork now, not at close-out.
- Tagged returnables. Any reel with a deposit or return tag, of any material. Same treatment.
- Wooden reels. Usually one-way. Southwire lists its wooden reels as non-returnable with no deposit.
Step two: count by maker
Among the wooden reels, count by stencil and flange size. If one maker's sound nailed reels fill a truck (Sonoco's table puts it at 100 reels at 48 inches, 39 at 60 inches, 22 at 72), that maker's program may take them at no cost. AFL's program wants nailed wood only, flanges at least 1½ inches thick and 30 across, arbor and drive holes sound, about 75 percent of staves. If you are near a load, the desk will tell you.
Step three: the rest
What remains is the desk's: mixed brands, plywood reels, part loads, damaged reels, small reels below 30 inches, lagging. On a large campus this is often most of the yard.
Booking the clear-out
Send the desk:
- Counts by flange size and build, after sorting.
- Equipment on site: forklift capacity and fork length, loader, crane.
- Gate hours, sign-in, badging, escort, PPE and the site's traffic plan.
- The date the yard has to be empty, if there is one.
A big yard may take several trucks over several days. The desk can also run pickups during the job, every few weeks, so the yard never fills.
Transmission and substation yards
Dominion's line work in Loudoun (Aspen to Golden, Golden to Mars, BECO to Firehouse) and similar jobs leave the largest reels of all, many of them steel. Sort them as above; wooden reels of 66 inches and up are worth placing as working reels, and the desk will try that first.
Handling, in short
- Roll only on firm, level ground, pushing from behind the reel, and in the direction of any arrow painted on the flange.
- Chock both flanges every time a reel stands on its rims, front and back.
- Stay uphill. Nobody stands in the path a reel would take if it got away.
- Lift with forks long enough to reach under both flanges, or with a shaft through the arbor hole and a spreader bar so the slings clear the flanges.
- Never drop a reel off a tailgate or a dock edge. A cracked flange turns a reusable reel into scrap.
- Store on rims, on drained gravel or pavement, with walkways between rows. Lay small reels flat only where stacks stay square and low.
- Keep paper with steel. Serial numbers and invoices travel with any returnable reel until its maker has it back.
The details: moving reels, storing reels, readying a pickup.
Reels you are likely to have
| Reel | Build | Flange | Traverse | Drum | Lb | Usually carries |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| C-5 | Nailed wood | 23 | 17 | 12 | 34 | Copper building wire, grounding |
| A-10 | Nailed wood | 30 | 22 | 16 | 66 | Service drop, bare aluminium |
| N-24 | Nailed wood | 36 | 28 | 14 | 83 | Insulated and multiplex cable |
| A-29 | Nailed wood | 42 | 28 | 21 | 154 | Overhead conductor, feeders |
| A-38 | Nailed wood | 48 | 28 | 24 | 212 | Aluminium and ACSR, large feeders |
| A-62 | Nailed wood | 60 | 28 | 28 | 397 | Utility conductor |
| A-76 | Nailed wood | 66 | 28 | 30 | 473 | Heavy conductor |
| S-120 | Steel, returnable | 84 | 36 | 42 | 895 | Transmission and medium voltage |
Other makers' reels differ by an inch or two. All flange sizes · How to measure
Questions the desk gets
Who owns the reels in a laydown yard?
Wooden reels are usually one-way and belong to whoever bought the cable. Steel reels shipped under a returnable policy belong to the maker; Southwire's carry a charge credited only if returned within 12 months.
Can the desk clear a yard before the fence comes down?
Usually, if you ask early. Give the date the yard has to be empty in the request.
Sources
Each opened and read on 9 November 2026.
- Loudoun County, Data Centers: The Loudoun Story: counts as of 1 March 2026: about 233 data centre buildings, 56.5 million sq ft; over 10 million sq ft permitted in 2025; 35.7 million sq ft approved but not built; by-right development ended in 2025
- Loudoun County, Transmission Lines in Loudoun County: status of Aspen to Golden, Golden to Mars, BECO to Firehouse, Evergreen Mills, Global Plaza Extension, Mars to Wishing Star and the Potomac Edison Goose Creek rebuild
- Southwire, Steel Reel Policy: steel reels carry a charge, credited if returned within 12 months of shipment
- Sonoco, EcoReel Recycling Program: free pickup of truckloads of viable nailed wood and polyfiber reels; reels repaired and returned to wire and cable makers; reels-per-truckload table
- AFL, Wood Reel Recycling Program: nailed wood only, no plywood; flanges at least 1½ in thick and 30 in across; 75% of staves; full truckloads; mainly East Coast and Midwest