The City of Hillsdale makes sure its residents’ leaves leave their driveways.
To ensure that clippings, brush, and leaves do not litter the city streets, Hillsdale has a leaf collection service. Run by the Department of Public Services, the service runs from Oct. 22 to Nov. 16. Residents can put their natural debris on the edge of the street for a city truck to come by and dispose of.
Residents are encouraged, however, not to leave their clippings in the streets, as this may cause traffic in the street.
The truck to pick up leaves comes once a week on a specified date depending on a resident’s address. The city is divided into four wards, and the truck runs four different days during the week. Alleyways are given less priority than leaves on the street. The city only collects leaves in alleys biweekly.
The leaves are transported by a dump truck to the City of Hillsdale compost site at the corner of Griswald Street and Waterworks Avenue. In 11 months, the leaves decompose into topsoil, which is then used for Hillsdale’s parks and road maintenance, said Keith Richard, director of public services.
Richard estimates the city has collected leaves since the 1940s. Originally the collection provided an alternative to burning the leaves. Since the city banned burning garbage in the late 1990s, the collection is residents’ only opportunity to dispose of their leaves.
Leaf collection, however, may not continue in the same fashion next year. The City Manager, Linda Brown, wants to contract leaf collection to the same company that runs the city’s garbage system, Richard said.
Hillsdale does not require its citizens to bag their own leaves. Instead, the Hillsdale street crew uses a loader and a number of dump trucks to pick up leaves.
“Curbside collection is a very labor-intensive process and the method is rather antiquated,” Richard said. “But I am not so sure the citizens of Hillsdale are ready for a bag like collection because it is so labor intensive on their part.”
Richard, who previously had the position of the city of Adrian Director of Public Services said the citizens of Adrian bagged their own leaves for collection. He said this method is much more modern and efficient.
Students who live off campus have the benefit of Hillsdale’s service. Erica Wood, a junior, lives on Manning Street and her landlord rakes the leaves for her and her housemates.
“It makes it a lot nicer to walk to class when there are fewer leaves on the sidewalks and lawns,” she said.
eepperson@hillsdale.edu
