Greater Harrisburg's Community Magazine

Mayor on Leaves: Bag ‘Em, Don’t Blow ‘Em, Please

Mayor Eric Papenfuse.

Mayor Eric Papenfuse.

As fall advances, the city is once again asking residents to collect leaves in compostable bags, not rake or blow them into the street, to help its sanitation efforts in the midst of a department overhaul, city officials said Thursday morning.

Mayor Eric Papenfuse, speaking to reporters on the heels of inconsistent reports about this year’s leaf policy, some of which centered on frustrated residents, said the city would not punish residents who didn’t bag leaves, but was simply asking for help as it works to refine its leaf collection procedure for next year.

Bagging leaves is the “best way to help public works do their job,” Papenfuse said, but no one would be cited or fined for not doing so. “If they can’t do it, they can’t do it, and the city’s going to pick up the leaves as it’s always picked up the leaves.”

By placing leaves in compostable bags, residents will ensure the leaves don’t get mixed with litter, which can force the city to pay to dispose of it at the incinerator rather than drop it off at a composting site in Swatara Township.

Residents should place bagged leaves curbside the night before scheduled street cleaning, and not on trash collection days, Papenfuse said. The city’s street cleaning schedule is posted on signs throughout the city and is also available online.

The city has several thousand compostable paper bags residents can pick up for free at the public works center, at 1820 Paxton St., weekdays between 7:30 a.m. and 4 p.m. The mayor said he will also be asking City Council to appropriate around $6,000 for purchasing more bags.

The request to bag leaves is one of a number of changes this year to Harrisburg’s sanitation services. As part of a department overhaul, the city has replaced trash and recycling cans, worked to upgrade an aging sanitation fleet, and fought to bring businesses back from their accounts with private haulers to paying for city service.

Those efforts extend to leaf collection, which the city hopes to improve by next year with the purchase of a specialized leaf-collection vehicle and the creation of its own composting site, Papenfuse said.

The mayor made reference to the various changes in explaining the timing of the announcement on leaves, saying that the city didn’t want to make the request too early for fear it would get lost amid other sanitation news.

For more information about the sanitation overhaul, or to speak with city officials about the changes, residents can attend tonight’s final “Talkin’ Trash and Trees” meeting at the public works center at 6:30 p.m.

Free leaf collection bags will be available at the meeting, the mayor said.

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