HELENA — Fall foliage is beautiful when it is on the trees but what do you do with it after it has fallen? Places like the City of Helena Transfer Station and street sweepers are helping combat these issues and confusion.
Leaves that fall into your own yard are your responsibility. Residents who don't compost leaves themselves should bag them up and dispose of them at the transfer station.
The City of Helena Sustainabilty and Recycling Coordinator, Miranda Griffis, says, “When residents bring their leaves to the transfer station they are hauled out to the landfill and mixed in with the compost piles we have out there. You can bring them here just please do not leave them in the bags.”
Residents should also remove sticks or branches. Piles at the station are labeled and separated.
Leaves that fall along the sidewalk and/or the boulevard are the responsibility of the city and can be moved to the street.
“With anything on your side of the sidewalk, you should be raking and bagging up and taking for disposal. Anything in what we call the boulevard, the little section between the sidewalk and the street it is okay if those leaves are put gently into where the gutter area is and we can come by and sweep those up," said Chris Couey, the City of Helena Deputy Director of Transportation.
Leaves may not seem like they weigh much but statistics from the transfer station tell a different story.
“It is around maybe a thousand tons a year that we do and then we do five thousand tons total of yard waste that gets composted," Griffis noted.
Because of the density of leaves the city says they should not be put in dumpsters as they are often shared between neighbors and leaves can fill them up quickly.
The city is divided up into three zones with street leaf collection starting on the west side of the city next week. Helena has a fleet of about eight sweepers and their primary goal is safety and preparing for winter.
“They will be out running their routes throughout the city. So there job really is to try and get all those leaves up as they start to come down this time of year and get the roads cleaned up for winter," Couey says.
This method prevents debris from building up in snow piles. Leaf collection runs through December.
