Leaves can be deceiving.
To the average Joe, they are merely brightly covered indicators of the fall season, but to Eugene Public Works, leaves can create a major disaster to sewer and river systems.
“After falling from trees and onto the streets, leaves often get into the sewer systems and decay, causing additional pollutants to be added to the river system,” said Richard Zucker, maintenance crew supervisor for the City of Eugene.
So how can the city handle these little menaces? Due to a citywide ban on outdoor leaf and debris burning, options may seem limited. First and foremost, the city encourages residents to use their leaves for mulch and fertilizer, Zucker said.
For those lacking a green thumb, the city’s 20-year-old leaf collection program offers another alternative.
“We allow people to put their leaves in the street, at a reasonable distance from the road and bike lanes, and we will come along and pick them up,” Zucker said.
Picking up leaves is one of the main things the city can do to keep storm drains clean. Last year, about 3,375 tons of leaves were collected by the city, Zucker said.
In the early 1990s, the program became considered a storm water service, Eugene Public Works spokesman Eric Jones said.
“It became time for cities the size of Eugene to do more with storm water,” Jones said.
Funded by the fees residents pay for sewer maintenance, the program is able to use tractors, front loaders, and dump trucks to gather and distribute leaves, Jones said.
“None of our equipment is highly sophisticated, but it gets the job done,” Zucker said.
The city is divided into five sections, with each section visited twice during a 10 week period, Zucker said.
After the leaves are picked up, the city does one of three things with them. The first and most popular is to deliver the leaves to Eugene residents who will use them for mulch and fertilizer.
“People can notify us if they want leaves delivered and we’ll take the leaves to their homes immediately after we pick them up (from other locations),” Zucker said.
The second option is to drop the leaves off at one of the commercial recycling centers, such as Lane Forest Products and Rexius Forest By-Products.
The third option is to stockpile the leaves at one of the newer parks where unwanted yard debris can be separated from the leaves and then picked up by one of the commercial recycling centers.
The collection crews emphasize they will only pick up leaves. Any other yard debris, such as grass clippings or pruned branches, will be left behind.
“The residences we deliver to have a high demand for leaves, but not yard debris,” Jones said. “We only want clean loads.”
The University does not use the city’s program, but has it’s own recycling method.
“We collect our own leaves and put them into a compost program that is used for the entire campus,” University landscape maintenance supervisor Tim King said.
King said the main objective is to keep walkways and bike paths clear for the safety of students.
“Because the campus has so many oak trees, along with other trees that lose their leaves progressively through the winter, our job starts in early fall and lasts all the way through April,” King said.
Although the campus remains independent from the city’s program, the city still picks leaves in the areas surrounding campus.