City leaf collection program begins

It's a chore that many dread, but with fall comes falling leaves and a mess for your hard.  

The City of Grand Junction offers a free service to residents that want to dispose of their leaves. 

It began collecting leaves on Monday and will continue through December 20th.  Officials say this one of the more popular programs including the spring-time trash pickup and they've been doing it for years.

"Starting today, we started our annual leaf program.  The reason for the program is to help residents remove their leaves without putting them in their garbage can.  They actually go to a compost facility, so they get a reuse out of them," said Darren Starr, Street & Solid Wastes Manger for the city. 

It's done to keep the easily compostable leaves out of the storm drains and landfill.  In fact,  your leaves may end up as compost for area parks, golf courses or even your own back yard. 

All  you have to do is check the schedule and leave our leaves out by 7:00 a.m. on the scheduled date(s). The piles should be comprised of leaves only, no branches, wood or other waste.  The piles must be at least a foot, preferably eighteen inches from the curb and fifteen feet from vehicles parked on the street. 

Also new this year, you can bring in bagged leaves to the city municipal service center at 333 West Avenue on specially scheduled dates .

For more information and the schedule, you can head on over to their website at http://www.gjcity.org/Fall_Leaf_Removal.aspx or call (970) 256-4111