During the months of November and December, Arlington County collects leaves separately from other refuse, shreds them, and makes the resulting mulch available to County residents. The County collects leaves in two ways:

• The Leaf Sucker Method: Residents rake their leaves to the curb and vacuum truck collection crews pick up the piles. Residents are asked to keep stones, litter, branches, and other debris out of the leaf pile. Crews normally make two full passes through each neighborhood, one during November and one during December. Crews work Monday through Saturday (7 am to 5:30 pm) and all holidays except Thanksgiving and Christmas day. Leaf sucker collection zones are based on civic association boundaries. For the latest, phone the Leaf Collection Hotline: 703-228-6565
• The Biodegradable Bag Method: For those who are only happy when leaves are securely tucked into bags, the County provides special biodegradable bags and will pick them up from November 1 through mid-January 12, one business day after your regular refuse collection day. The special biodegradable bags can be made into mulch along with the leaves, and they make it easy for collection crews to distinguish between bagged leaves and refuse.

By keeping the leaves out of the waste stream, the program goes a long way toward helping the County meet state-mandated recycling requirements. In 1999, more than 19,000 tons of leaves were collected during the two-month program. Another major benefit to residents is that we get to use the resulting mulch to enrich our gardens.

Leaf collection and mulch making is handled by the Department of Environmental Services – Solid Waste Division.

Solid Waste Division
4300 S. 29th Street Arlington
VA 22206
(703-228-6570
E-mail: SWD@co.arlington.va.us

Return Home