Leaf Collection

The Department of Public Works picks up fallen leaves during the autumn season. Each single-family residence within Village limits has two scheduled pickups beginning in October. Check the Collection Day Lookup or Leaf Collection Map to determine which pickup zone your home is in. The interactive Map lets users zoom into different areas of the Village. The Lookup allows you to search for a specific address.

Regulations

  • All raked leaves must be put into the street and ready for pickup no later than 7 AM on scheduled days, but no earlier than 4 PM the day before the collection.
  • Only one pass down each street will be made on scheduled collection days. Due to the large volume of leaves, trucks are unable to return a second time.
  • There are two scheduled collection dates for each residence. Refer to the Map or Lookup to determine your zone and two day schedule.
  • A final pickup will occur for all zones after the scheduled collection. All zones must have the final collection of leaves out on the street by 7 AM on Monday, November 13. Crews will start the final pickup on Monday and continue throughout the week until all leaves have been collected. Only one pass down each street will be made.

We May Start Early

There may be times when the quantity of leaves in one area is so heavy that the leaf collection crews will start early in that area in order to get a head start on picking up the leaves. When this is the case, crews will always return to your area on the regularly scheduled pickup day, even if some of the leaves on your street were picked up a day or two ahead of schedule.

Sometimes We Get Behind

There may also be times when the crews get behind schedule due to weather, equipment problems, or the amount of leaves, but be assured we will be there. Your patience is appreciated.

Leaf Collection is a Two-Step ProcessLeaf Pile

First the leaves are picked up and removed by crews operating the leaf machines. Next, the street sweeper does a final cleanup of any remaining debris. Since the street sweeper moves at a slower pace than the leaf machines, street cleanup takes longer than the pickups.

Can You Schedule Later Pickups?

The timing of our collection schedule is driven by having the equipment ready for snow removal. All the trucks collecting leaves, including the end loaders, are part of the front line snow removal equipment. It is a lengthy process to prepare the trucks, which includes installing the nose plow equipment, inspecting and modifying the underbelly plows underneath the trucks (which stay on year-round), applying liquid calcium to the road salt, and installing and calibrating the liquid calcium tanks and salt spreaders. The entire conversion takes as long as two weeks as there are more than 20 pieces of equipment to transition over to snow removal. Therefore, leaf pickups cannot be made any later than the current schedule. Crews begin converting the equipment during the week of Thanksgiving, after the final collection week of November 13. The Village will monitor the weather and announce if conditions allow for an additional all zone sweep.

What Happens if it Snows

If it snows prior to the final leaf collection, leaves raked to the curb for collection will most likely be plowed back onto the parkway along with the snow. An early snowfall seriously hampers our leaf collection efforts because the same trucks that are used to pick up leaves are used to plow the streets. Depending on the weather, every attempt will be made to collect leaves that have been raked back into the street. 

Please call the Department of Public Works at (847) 705-5200 with any questions.