City’s annual Fall Leaf Collection set to get underway

You can start making plans for the third weekend in October that includes raking leaves and sprucing up the yard ahead of winter. Fall Leaf Collection season kicks off Monday, Oct. 15, 2018.

The Murfreesboro Streets and Solid Waste departments will team-up for the sixth consecutive year with a combined system to improve service and efficiencies for the City and its customers.

“Once again this fall, the City will be divided in half by U.S. Highway 41 (Broad Street) with the Street Department serving residents on the north and east side of Broad and the Solid Waste Department servicing the south and west side,” said Streets Department Supervisor Raymond Hillis.

The goal is to cover the City twice as fast. The Street Division will operate with four Vacuum trucks and a dozen or more crew members. The Solid Waste Department will operate seven Boom trucks with a driver and a crewmember raking leaves.

“City residents are asked to place loose leaves within five to 10 feet of the street so leaf vacuums’ can reach them easily,” said Murfreesboro Solid Waste Director Joey Smith. “Leaves should not be placed out in the street, since this causes traffic hazards and potential drainage problems.”

To make the process go smoothly residents should follow simple guidelines to improve service and efficiencies for City crews and customers:

• Place large tree limbs and leaves in separate piles parallel to the street.
• Make sure the tree limb debris is in one pile only instead of several piles.
• Brush cannot be longer than 10 feet in length and over 8 inches in diameter.
• Don’t place brush under low-lying power lines and cable lines to allow room for the boom to work.
• Don’t park a vehicle near the brush pile during daylight hours.

Only biodegradable paper bags are accepted for those residents who choose to bag their leaves. Residents are also asked to keep loose leaves separate form yard waste, including brush, debris and limbs, because mixing them causes damage to the vacuum units and slows vacuum collection. Collected leaves are trucked to Murfreesboro’s mulch site at 4765 Florence Rd.

The heaviest part of the leaf collection season typically ends before the Christmas holiday. Crews will continue picking up bags of leaves through the first or second week of January 2019.

For more information on the Fall Leaf Collection program, contact Solid Waste Director Joey Smith at 615-893-3681 or [email protected] or Street Division Operations Manager Raymond Hills at 615-893-4380 or [email protected].