Leaf Collection Program To Begin In Early October

Press release from the Village of New Lenox:

The Leaf Collection Program for residents will begin Monday, October 5, 2020. The Village will send out leaf collection equipment and vacuum your leaves from your parkway. Residents must place the leaves in the parkway and not on the street. Please see below for the correct and incorrect ways to place the leaves.

Crews will start at the beginning of the week on the north side of town and work their way south. The goal is to collect the leaves at least once a week. Please note that this schedule is dependent on the weather, volume of leaves to collect, equipment and crew availability. For example, crews may pick up your leaves on a Wednesday one week and on a Friday the next week because there were more leaves to pick-up.

Please follow these helpful guidelines to ensure that this service will operate quickly, safely and efficiently:

• Place leaves on the parkway parallel to the street and immediately behind the curb or the edge of pavement. Leaves must not be placed in the street or in the curb/gutter. If the leaves are placed in the street or gutter, they have a greater chance of blowing and will obstruct the flow of storm water and cause street flooding during rain events.

• Do not include any debris such as garden materials, brush, cans, paper, bottles, etc. These foreign materials can cause damage to leaf collection personnel and equipment.

• Do not place leaves behind obstacles such as: parked vehicles, trees, mailboxes, fire hydrants, streetlights, etc.

The Village’s free leaf collection program ends Saturday, November 28, 2020 (weather permitting).

Alternative Options are also encouraged. In some neighborhoods where trees are not mature, utilizing a mulching lawn mower adds the leaves back into the lawn - providing nutrients to the soil. Nu-Way will also pick-up leaves placed in the Kraft-type paper bags free of charge for 6-weeks. This service will begin with your pick-up date on October 22nd or 23rd and ends with your pick-up date either on November 27th or November 28th. In 2020 it will be on Friday or Saturday due to the holiday week. The Village offers ten free yard-waste bags per fall for our senior citizen households which may be picked up at the Village Hall.

Thank you for your cooperation. If you have any questions please call the Public Works Department at (815) 215-4800.

This press release was produced by the Village of New Lenox. The views expressed here are the author's own.