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Fall Leaf Collection

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October 2, 2007
Fall is here, and it's that time of year when we no longer have lawns, but a sea of leaves in our front yards. The week of November 12th, 2007 the City will start the annual leaf collection. This year the City will be giving out paper lawn and leaf bags. They have a 33 gallon capacity. The benefit to these bags is that they stand up on their own, so they are much easier to fill. If you would like the City to collect your leaves, you must place your bagged leaves at the curb by Monday November 12th, 2007. The City will be picking leaves up all week street by street, but will only do each street once. If you miss the pick up, you can always bring your leaves to the Transfer Station in Saco free of charge.

This year, the City will be giving out 10 bags per household. You are still permitted to place 20 bags at the curb for collection, but they all must be biodegradable bags. Paper lawn and leaf bags are available at Hannaford, Shaws, Aubuchon Hardware, Ace Hardware, Lowes and Home Depot. Leaves placed not placed in biodegradable bags will not be picked up.

The City is collecting your leaves in biodegradable bags to save man hours of ripping up plastic bags after collection; thus reducing the amount of plastics used by the City. Once collected, your leaves will end up in Saco's compost pile where they can stay in our community and some day help someone else's garden grow, or maybe even your own. If you are interested in composing your own leaves, the City has compost bins for sale at the Public Works Office. These compost bins are 32" tall and 32" in diameter, and they come with a booklet on how and what you can compost.

If you have any questions or comments please feel free to contact me at the Public Works Office at 282-1552, or by email at sbernier@sacomaine.org. Composting your leaves is just another way that the City is reducing, reusing and recycling. Keeping your leaves local, purchasing compost locally saves on fuel for trucking as well as emissions. Keep up the good work!