Fall Leaf Collection Frequently Asked Questions

Starting in 2024, residents will no longer rake leaves into the street. Instead, residents are able to choose from a variety of leaf collection options that will improve safety, sustainability, and efficiency.

Oak Park's annual fall leaf collection period typically runs from late October to early December. Prior to this year, the Village utilized a pile program model in which large piles of loose leaves were consolidated at street corners for collection by the Village's residential waste hauler.

Instead of raking into the street, residents can choose from several options for handling leaves:

• Leave the leaves - Mulching leaves with a mower and/or leaving them on the lawn or in garden beds offers a great opportunity to support regional biodiversity, protect and provide food for birds, save money on fertilizers and allow leaf litter to decompose naturally during the winter to feed your soil. This option aligns with the Village’s Climate Ready Oak Park plan. Learn more about the benefits of leaving the leaves at www.oak-park.us/leafpledge.
• Compost leaves - Residents who participate in the Village's CompostAble program can discard leaves in their 96-gallon gray organics cart along with food scraps and other yard waste throughout the year. Click here for more information and to sign up.
• Place leaves in a bag or bin - Fallen leaves can be bagged in yard waste bags and/or rigid containers with a weight less than 50 pounds when filled. The bags and/or containers shall be placed in the parkway as close to the curb as possible. Green yard waste stickers are not required during the six-week Fall Leaf Collection Program and residents may put out an unlimited number of bags and/or rigid containers in the parkway on their designated collection day. Leaves collected are sent to a compost facility. Note that leaves collected by landscapers for residential refuse customers during the Fall Leaf Collection Program may be bagged and placed in the parkway for pickup. If the landscaper does not want to bag the leaves, they are responsible for removal and disposal.

The Village’s residential waste hauler, Lakeshore Recycling Systems (LRS), will have dedicated compost trucks and leaf crews that will collect bags and empty rigid landscape containers from the parkway according to the route and schedule set by Public Works staff. A Village-wide make-up day is included in the weekly Fall Leaf Collection schedule to supplement areas with higher leaf volumes or to catch-up after inclement weather events.

The Village last updated its Fall Leaf Collection Program in 1994. This modernization will result in increased choice for residents, environmental benefits for the community, enhanced safety in line with the Village’s Vision Zero commitment to eliminate death and injury from traffic crashes by making streets safer for all, and potential reduction in costs for collection. Parking disruption caused by overnight leaf pushing and daytime collection of leaf piles will also be alleviated.

The modernization of the Fall Leaf Collection Program more directly aligns with stated Village Board goals related to programs and initiatives such as: Community Health & Safety; Vibrant, Diverse, Connected Neighborhoods; Sustainability & Resiliency; Climate Ready Oak Park (CROP) and Vision Zero. These benefits may include, but are not limited, to:

• Enhancing safety by reducing incidents of children playing in large leaf piles in dangerous proximity to busy traffic and intersections
• Reduced greenhouse gas emissions from fewer truck pickups and improved routing of trucks
• Eliminating large leaf piles at corners that block crosswalk and sidewalk access and cause impaired visibility for pedestrians, motorists, and cyclists
• Mitigating the threat of residential vehicle and waste hauler truck fires from parking near or on top of leaf piles and/or being in close proximity to hot engines during collection
• Environmental benefits from mulching, such as increased tree and soil health, and providing food to grow bird populations
• Resolving inconvenient changes in parking restrictions due to overnight leaf-pushing and daytime collection of piles, causing confusion and disproportionate reduction of parking in areas
• Reducing overall costs by preventing multi-family (5+ units) and commercial buildings, institution, and landscapers from taking advantage of the historic pile model by increasing the total volume of leaves collected and the associated disposal fees

The Village has determined, based on historic leaf collection averages, that a typical Village household choosing to place leaves in yard waste bags would require one to three yard waste bags per week and purchase a total of five to 16 bags for the year. At 50 cents per bag, this amounts to approximately $2.50 to $8 in costs per household/annually.

Residents interested in participating in the Village’s CompostAble Program can subscribe for $16.31 per month and will receive a 96-gallon gray cart for the weekly collection of organics, a kitchen compost pail and a sample of compostable bags for food scraps. Residents who join CompostAble for the first time will get three months free if they sign up for 12 months of continuous service.

Village staff will be trained and knowledgeable of the Fall Leaf Collection Program guidelines and will be equipped with educational materials and supplies to encourage compliance on the spot. It is possible that a citation may be issued if a leaf pile remains in place after multiple engagements with Village staff.

The Fall Leaf Collection Program is intended to service single-family (buildings with 5 or fewer dwelling units) residents in Oak Park who pay for residential waste hauling service on their quarterly water bills. Other types of buildings such as multi-family (5+units), commercial or institutional are responsible for their own leaf removal and disposal through their waste hauling contractor. The Village does not remove leaf piles in the street or collect landscape bags from these types of property owners.

The Village currently has a Sidewalk Shoveling Program to assist income-eligible residents that physically cannot shovel show nor afford to hire a shoveling service. The shoveling contractor has agreed to expand the program to provide leaf services, as well.

The Village also plans to develop a Community Volunteer Portal that will connect local volunteers with those in need, for both leaf and snow removal. Additional details are to come.

Fall Leaf Collection has been a complex process requiring coordination from residents, the Village and its contracted residential waste hauler to ensure safety and success. The previously used pile collection method operated as follows:

• Resident’s Role – Rake or blow the fallen leaves from the property out to the curb the day before your block’s scheduled collection.
• Village’s Role – Village employees work overnight using special heavy equipment to push the leaves put out by residents into large piles at street corners for collection the next day.
• Waste Hauler's Role - Designated leaf crews use special heavy equipment and block off streets to collect the large corner piles according to the schedule set by the Village.

Prior to 1994, the Fall Leaf Collection Program was performed entirely by the Public Works Department. Since 1994, the Fall Leaf Collection Program has been provided as a 6 to 8-week joint operation (late October to early December) between the Public Works Department and the waste hauler hired by the Village for residential refuse, recycling and compost services. In 2022, the Village entered a five-year contract with its current residential waste hauler Lakeshore Recycling Systems (LRS).

The Village has utilized a pile program model through 2023. Residents would rake leaves into the street. LRS would deploy trucks on a scheduled basis to push large piles of loose leaves for consolidation at street corners for collection, and haul the leaves to the LRS transfer station in Maywood, IL and to the Whole Earth Compost facility for processing. Single-family residents (buildings with 5 or fewer dwelling units) would pay a fee for Fall Leaf Collection services that was included in their quarterly refuse rate. The 2024 Fall Leaf Collection fee is $2.42/month per household.

The Village last revisited its leaf collection process in 1994. The modernization of the Village’s Fall Leaf Collection Program has been in discussion since fall 2023.

Village Trustees expressed growing concerns regarding the safety and efficiency of the Village’s Fall Leaf Collection Program. Public Works staff was directed to evaluate the current program model for improvements and present alternatives to the Board. Village staff performed case studies of 150 Illinois municipalities and found that only 10 other communities utilize the historic pile program model.

Please visit the links below to view recordings from the Board meetings with agenda items pertaining to the Fall Leaf Collection Program:

• November 20, 2023
• March 12, 2024
• April 30, 2024

Village staff is planning ongoing engagement with community partners and organizations, citizen advisory groups, local businesses, contractors, residents, landscapers, and multiple Village departments to ensure an equitable, effective and transparent transition for all involved.