Westport’s curbside leaf collection program begins this Monday (November 4). It runs through December 2.
During this period, Public Works will collect leaves placed in biodegradable paper bags on the curbside. Leaves placed in plastic bags will not be picked up. Residents living on private roadways must place their bagged leaves at an intersecting town roadway.
DPW crews will pick up bagged leaves several times during the collection period. A final pass begins December 2, 2019, and takes about a week.
Only Westport residents with valid proof of residency may bring their leaves directly to the yard waste site at 180 Bayberry Lane. Leaves transported in plastic bags must be emptied from them.
The yard waste site is open weekdays and Saturdays, 7 a.m. to 3 p.m.
Westport residents with valid proof of residency may dump up to 6 30-gallon bags or containers full of leaves without a fee. Any van, pickup or tag-along trailer exceeding the 6-bag limit will be charged $40 per load. Any vehicle or trailer larger than a conventional pickup with a 4-foot by 8-foot bed will be charged $90 per ton.
Any vehicles with a 9-foot body or vehicles changed to significantly enlarge their factory design size will be charged $90 per ton, estimated at 2 tons without weigh slip ($180). Dump tickets must be purchased at Town Hall, Monday through Friday between 8:30 a.m. and 4:30 p.m., or by writing Department of Public Works, 110 Myrtle Avenue, Westport, CT 06880.
NOTE: For ease and cost savings, Public Works urges homeowners to consider backyard leaf composting. For details, call the Conservation Department (203-341-1170) or Earthplace (203-557-4400).
In the 1950s, my father would rake all the leaves to the road’s edge and burn the piles.
As a teenager, I melted the macadam in front of my house doing that. The smell of burning leaves is wonderful – unless you have breathing problems or there’s poison ivy in the mix. Something else to feel sentimental about but that we’re better off without.
It’s not just easier and cheaper to compost your leaves or create an area to just collect them so they can decompose less “formally”. Many creatures survive the winter in leaf litter. In the spring the broken down leaves are wonderful for dressing plants and mulching, Mother Nature does know best and it’s usually good to follow her “suggestions”.
And if you leave the leaves on the ground, they’re good for your lawn and there is no methane spewing into the air from leaf blowers.
For overwintering species such as the beautiful Black Swallowtail butterfly & for fireflies, leaf litter left at the base of a tree offers protection & camouflage from both weather & predators until adult insects emerge in warmer weather. A good reason to leave undisturbed these little bunches of leaves until later in Spring : ) I just learned this year, for example, that the Black Swallowtail chrysalis can look just like a crumpled, brown leaf! Protect our pollinators!
Well…that’s an eye opener…
I’m surprised (and shocked) by the fees for Westport residents and Westport businesses!
These fees maybe the reason the yard clean up crews dump the leaves in areas where they shouldn’t be.
For example the streams (Deadman’s Brook comes to mind) and rivers
One thing about composting- our former neighbors had large piles of leaves in their yard, among other things. They didn’t have a garden, they just raked their leaves into a heap. The rodents sure loved it! Needless to say, now that they have moved and the new owner has cleaned up the yard, our rodent problem is gone.
I’ve used a mulching mower for the last 5 years. Where has it been all my life? It makes the leaves disappear. It pulverizes them and they just work into the ground. No nagging because no bags needed. No stacking bags on the curb. Cuts the work time/effort by two thirds. However they do use fossil fuel but maybe it might make sense to design catalytic converters for small engines. I don’t recall mulching mowers ever being mentioned in 06880. I guess because most people in this fubar country can’t do anything that the government; state, local or federal can’t do for them. And then they wonder why parks and other green space go untended.
I’ve been chopping my leaves with a plug-in electric Flowtron for years! It uses weed wacker technology to shred – I bought special razor edge orange ‘string’ that lasts longer than the string that came with it – it makes fantastic mulch, especially if you pile your leaves for the winter and shred in the Spring.
Sounds like a fun machine. As any alpha male will tell you, there is never enough tools.
I really have to marvel at Westport’s public works department for even remotely being able to pick up the towns leaves in two weeks. Unless they are hiring platoons of undocumented workers to help out its very difficult to understand how they will be able to deal with any other issues of equal/greater importance. I guess Westport’s leadership is subject to the same types of constraints that are faced by other forms of government especially the feds.
Excellent resource for ecological ways to handle your leaves