Vacuum Leaf Collection Discontinued

For Fiscal Year 2010, the Prince George’s Department of Public Works and Transportation has discontinued the vacuum leaf collection program. For the 351 communities this affects, leaf collection will now be included in the Department of Environmental Resources (DER) Yard Wast Management program.

New Leaf Collection Procedures

Rake and bag your leaves and take the bags to the curb for pickup during the regularly scheduled yard waste collection days. Leaves must be placed in heavy-duty paper or plastic bags and securely tied. Or, they may be placed in heavy-duty trash cans with handles and secured with a lid so they do not blow around. Cardboard boxes are not acceptable for containers and will not be picked up.

Do not put piles of leaves in the street—they will not be picked up. Leaf piles hinder parking and will cause hazardous conditions when it rains, snows, or freezes. Loose leaves will blow around back onto your yard or your neighbors’ yards.

Alternative Procedures

• You may mulch your leaves or add them to your compost heap for your garden.
• Students in the 6th through 12th grades are required to have 38 hours of community service in order to graduate from high school. See the Student Service Learning (SSL) site for information about the program and verification forms. You may want to consider contacting your local middle school or high school to get assistance with raking your leaves. This helps the students earn some of their community service hours. Look for a school near you on the Prince George’s County School Search page.
• Local Boy Scouts are also looking for community service projects. If you are interested in this, contact Van Caldwell, Chair of the Livable Communities Initiative (LCI) at 301-883-5600.
• Lawn care services may be used to rake and remove leaves from your yard or bag your leaves for you and take them to the curb for you. (So far, one lawn care service is listed in our Neighborhood Resources page. Others may be found in the Yellow pages of the phone book.)

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