City Announces 2011 Fall Leaf Collection Schedule

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FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
October 17, 2011

For more information, please contact:
Shelby Walker, Director of Sanitation, City of Bloomington, 349.3443, [mailto:walkers@bloomington.in.gov]
Jared Schlemmer, Communications Director, City of Bloomington, 349.3406, [mailto:schlemmj@bloomington.in.gov]

Bloomington, IN - The City of Bloomington announced today its leaf collection schedule for the fall. The leaf collection program will begin Monday, Oct. 24 and run through Thursday, Dec. 22, 2011.

The following information should be helpful to residents when setting leaves out for pickup:

Composting leaves is the greenest way to both reduce waste and create useful fertilizer for your yard. It's natural, easy, requires almost no maintenance and can be done in any number of ways. Plus, the leaves you compost can be used as mulch or as a valuable nutrient in your soil. For more information on composting, visit [www.epa.gov/composting|www.epa.gov/composting].

On your regular yard waste collection day, you may set out leaves bagged in biodegradable/paper bags for collection without the green yard waste tag. All other yard waste must be tagged as usual. Leaves will be collected from Monday, Oct. 24 through Thursday, Dec. 22. Leaf bags may be purchased through many local retailers. Leaves in plastic bags will not be collected, and bags must weigh 40 pounds or less.

In addition to free leaf collection on residents' regular yard waste collection day, the City also will provide free curbside vacuum pickup from November 14 through December 30. Each residence will receive one leaf vacuuming pickup between these two dates. All residences should have their leaves raked to the curb by November 14. Leaves must be kept out of the street to avoid clogging stormwater drains. You can track the leaf vacuuming crews and find out where they will be each week by visiting [www.bloomington.in.gov/leaves|www.bloomington.in.gov/leaves]. All leaves collected in leaf bags or with curbside vacuuming will be composted at a local facility.

For more information regarding leaf bag procedures, please contact Shelby Walker, City Director of Sanitation, at 349-3443 or visit the City's sanitation web page at [www.bloomington.in.gov/sanitation|www.bloomington.in.gov/sanitation].

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