Fall Leaves and Yard Waste Collection Begins Week of October 6, 2024

posted September 26, 2024 – 9:49am

The Streets Division’s fall yard waste and leaves collection begins the week of October 6, 2024.

All residents will receive three collection opportunities this fall, weather permitting.

The exact dates when you should set out your leaves and yard waste for pickup can be found on the Streets Division website, www.cityofmadison.com/yardwaste.

Your set out dates can also be found on the map lookup tool.

What will yard waste collect crews collect?

When curbside collection begins in October, crews will pick up leaves, weeds, and other plant debris you have raked or pulled from your lawn or garden.

Yard waste is not the same as brush.

Piles of brush and yard waste mixed together will not be picked up by the yard waste collection crews.

Why are all the dates on the website Sundays?

The date shown on the website is the day when you should set out yard waste for pickup.

This is not the date when your yard waste will be picked up.

Crews will be collecting leaves and yard waste from your neighborhood sometime during the normal work week following the set-out dates you see on the site.

By placing the yard waste out on the date given on the website, your material will be out on time and will only sit on the terrace for one week at most.

If you choose to place material out after your set-out date, you may miss your collection opportunity.

How do you set out yard waste for collection?

Place the leaves and yard waste at the street edge or on the terrace. Do not place yard waste into the street.

Keep the material at least four feet from obstructions. Street signs, utility poles, mailboxes, trees, stumps, and parked cars get in the way of crews.

If you bag your leaves and yard waste, please use compostable paper leaf and lawn bags and keep them open so crews can see what is inside.

Other bags are acceptable if they are kept open as well, but keep in mind that crews may need to rip or slice open plastic bags to get the yard waste out. Crews will need to leave the split bags behind at the curb, too.

What are other options besides curbside pickup?

You can compost your yard waste to help your lawns and gardens grow next year.

Free guides on how to compost are available at City of Madison libraries and additional composting resources can be found on the Streets Division’s website.

You can also mulch your leaves in place with your lawnmower. It’s an easy way to help manage your leaves, help the lakes, and improve your lawns.

Drop-off Sites

The Streets Division drop-off sites will also accept yard waste.

Check the locations and the hours for the site you want to use before loading your vehicle at www.cityofmadison.com/DropOffSites.

More Information

Additional information about yard waste collection can be found at www.cityofmadison.com/yardwaste.

You can view our short how-to video about yard waste collection on the City of Madison YouTube page.

And more information about all Streets Division services can be found at www.cityofmadison.com/streets.

Leaf collection takes many steps. Step 1 is to pull or push leaves from the terrace.
Next, they push them into an awaiting collection truck. When full, the collection truck dumps at our composting partner.
The process is not done! Yes, the streets will sometimes have leaves behind in the road, but we're not through with the work.
As soon as we can, a street sweeper will be through to clean up the leaf debris. There is always a gap between collection and sweeping. Sweepers are slow; don't hold much material; and there's more collection crews than sweepers in our fleet. But we work to keep the gap as short as possible.
And once the sweepers are through, the leaf litter is collected, and roads look better.