The DC Department of Public Works announced today that it will suspend leaf collection on Saturday, December 5, to allow staff to prepare the trucks for weekend’s predicted snowfall. Leaf collection employees and equipment form the backbone of DPW’s snow fighting team. When snow is predicted, leaf collection trucks are taken out of service to have plows and salt spreaders mounted on them.

“We are serious about our responsibilities for fighting snow and ice,” said DPW Director William O. Howland Jr. “As a result, we must discontinue our leaf collection duties until our streets are passable following a storm.” He added that only a dusting is expected and leaf collections should resume Monday.

Leaf collection season began November 2 and will run through January 9, 2010. The crews work Monday through Saturday and take off Christmas Day and New Year’s Day only. DPW makes at least two passes in each neighborhood during the season. Residents are asked to rake their leaves into the treebox space or to the curb in front of their homes, not into the street. Leaves in the street pose fire and flooding hazards and can cause accidents when wet. Here are tips to follow to help ensure a safe leaf collection season:

• Rake leaves into the treebox space or to the curb the weekend before your street is scheduled for collection.  Please, never rake leaves into the street where they can catch fire if someone parks on them, clog the catch basins and cause flooding, or reduce the already limited number of parking spaces on our streets.
• Loose leaves that are raked into the treebox space or to the curb will be collected using “leaf vacs.”
• If you prefer bagging your leaves, please use paper bags designed for yard waste and place those bags into the treebox space or at the curb.
• Leaves in the treebox spaces and at the curb, whether bagged or raked, will be collected and composted.  Bagged leaves that are placed in the alley for trash collection will go to the landfill. Also, these bags will be collected based on the trash truck’s capacity.
• Wet leaves are slippery, therefore dangerous. Please do your best to keep them off the sidewalk and street until we get to your street.
• To learn the status of collections in your neighborhood, go to http://leaf.dcgis.dc.gov.