(Washington, DC) Soon, thousands of trees in the District’s residential areas will begin the yearly process of dropping their leaves into yards and onto houses, driveways, sidewalks and cars. As part of its annual operations, the Department of Public Works (DPW) deploys personnel with leaf vacs and leaf blowers, packer trucks, dump trucks and roll-offs to tackle the daunting job of removing tons of leaves from public space.

This year, the leaf collection effort is expected to pick up over 10,000 tons of dead leaves from October 31, 2005, through January 7, 2006.

A brochure containing the detailed leaf collection schedule has been mailed to households across the District to give residents ample time to plan for leaf season.

Property owners and residents should clear leaves from their own property and bring them out to the curb. Each ward has been divided into collection zones to make the leaf collection process more efficient. DPW uses large machines to vacuum loose piles of leaves from curbside tree boxes on each street, in each zone, at least twice. Additionally, residents may set out bagged leaves with their regular trash at curbs and alley collection sites. However, bagged leaves may take longer to collect.