Hickory Announces its Fall Loose Leaf Pick Up Season

Hickory Announces its Fall Loose Leaf Pick Up Season

The City of Hickory will begin its leaf collection on November 9, 2009 and will continue until January 15, 2010. The City of Hickory offers curbside collection of leaves, which is one of the many services provided.

Each collection area of the city will have two pickups, and time allotted in each area is based on the number of mature trees and size of each collection area.

In addition, weather delays are unforeseen, so we ask that citizens be patient and understand that pick up may be later due to this delay. Questions regarding leaf collection should be directed to (828) 323-7500.

• Rake all leaves to curb by the first collection day of your quadrant.

• Keep leaves away from storm drains and out of the street to help prevent flooding and accidents during rain events.

• Never park your vehicle on a leaf pile. A hot exhaust system will catch the leaves on fire.

• Do not mix leaves with junk or brush as this will damage equipment, delay collection and potentially cause injury.

• Leaves in clear plastic bags, or leaves in an easily handled open container are collected weekly on your regular garbage day.

QUADRANT SCHEDULE:

Northwest A  November 9 - 13 and December 14 - 18

(Boundaries of Northwest A: City limits on the west, North Center Street on the east, north of Southern Railroad and south of 12th Avenue, NW (Geitner Road), 6th Street, NW and 16th Avenue, NW.)

Northwest B  November 16 - 20 and December 21 - 25

(Boundaries of Northwest B: All of city limits north of 12th Avenue, NW (Geitner Rd.),6th Street, NW, 16th Avenue, NW and west of North Center Street.)

Southeast  November 23 - 27

Southwest  December 28 - January 1

Northeast  November 30-December 11 and January 4 - 15

Stormwater & Leaves Affect the Environment:

The annual battle to get rid of all the leaves that fall from the precious tree canopy has begun. Besides being a traffic hazard in the streets, leaves can get washed into the storm drainage system when it rains. If the leaves do not clog the storm drains, the storm drainage system takes them directly to our streams. The leaves can overwhelm the macro-invertebrates in the stream by shading them, and also by taking the oxygen from the streams as they decay. Help the environment by looking at leaves as a gift from Mother Nature that can be shredded and composted. The compost can be used to amend our clay soils and make them less dense. The soil will absorb more water and reduce storm water runoff.