2021 Montgomery County Vacuum Leaf Collection Program
UPDATE - November 8, 2021: Leaf collection operations started today, Monday, November 8, 2021.
NOTICE: Due to the COVID pandemic effect on staffing, the following change has been made to leaf sign posting.
Leaf signs will NOT be removed following the completion of the FIRST, and re-installed prior to the SECOND collection. They will remain posted until the SECOND leaf collection has been completed.
Please check this site regularly during the leafing season (November through December) for collection dates.
Find this page fast:
www.montgomerycountymd.gov/leafing
Prefer our table format?
See the Leaf Collection Posting Log data table.
The Leaf Collection District is generally south of Bel Pre Road, east of I-270/I-495 and west of New Hampshire Avenue, to the District line.
Collection Schedule
The Leaf Collection Program includes 2 pick-ups. It continues for 6 to 8 weeks.
| This collection | Is made |
|---|---|
| Collection 1 | Early November |
| Collection 2 | Beginning of December, depending on weather conditions. |
Look up your actual collection dates
Rain, snow and ice can affect our collection schedule. Sign up for email/text updates
- Use the address lookup, or
- If you know your Leafing Area, you can also use the collection date table
Missed leaf collections
Report a missed collection onlineOr, call:
- Highway Services at 240-777-ROAD (7623), or
- MC311 at 311 (or 240-777-0311)
Remember, your leaves can also be collected in regular, weekly recycling collections if you place them at the curb in paper lawn bags or reusable containers. All leaves collected, whether by recycle truck, leaf vacuuming or dropped off at the Shady Grove Processing Facility and Transfer Station, are recycled into a product called LeafGro. Leaf Gro is available at many garden centers.
Sign Posting
We will post signs throughout your neighborhood several days before each collection. Sign posting in neighborhoods begins in late October. We try to allow a weekend for you to rake your leaves to the edge of the road for vacuum pick up. Due to short staffing this year, the signs will remain up until the end of the second collection. To check if your street has been completed, please use the address lookup feature.
The signs will display your Leafing Area (examples: 1A, 4B, 15C).
Green neighborhood sign - older style
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Yellow neighborhood sign - newer style
Make leaf piles at the curb
Put your leaves at the curb, out of the street. For homes where the sidewalk abuts the curb, place leaves on your lawn as close as possible to the sidewalk edge.
Our crews can get to your leaves that are placed on the grass. If any grass discolors, this is temporary because grass is dormant at this time of year.
Avoid:
- sticks or other debris in your piles.
- plastic bags. We cannot collect leaves in plastic bags.
- parked vehicles near leaf piles.
Keep piles off the street
Leaf piles in streets can cause
- Car fires, when cars park over leaves, and their extremely hot catalytic converters ignite dry leaves.
- Flooding, when leaves clog storm drains and ditches.
- Narrowed streets, dangerous for driving and parking. In neighborhoods without sidewalks, narrow streets are dangerous for pedestrians, too.
- Slippery streets, dangerous for vehicles and pedestrians.
Help snow plow drivers
Sometimes, it snows during the leaf collection season. Having streets free of leaf piles helps our snow plows clear your streets more quickly and easily.
Snow-covered leaf piles in streets become frozen to the roadway surface. The piles can also become very heavy. This makes it difficult for snow plows to move them. Snow plow drivers may also mistake snow-covered leaf pile for snow, spreading the leaves all over the street. Residents then have a difficult time raking these scattered leaves back up.
If your home is not in the Leaf Collection District
Learn how to get your community included in the Leaf Collection Program.
Other methods to handle leaves
Many residents can leave the leaves where they fall, providing natural habitats for beneficial insects. The leaves begin a slow, natural, in-place composting process when left in place.
Also, mowing over the leaves can break them up into tiny pieces that can filter into the grass, providing much -needed nutrients. If there are too many leaves for that method, you could collect and compost leaves in your own yard. The County's Department of Environmental Protection has the how-to information at Yard Trim - Montgomery County, Maryland (montgomerycountymd.gov).
Finally, residents could choose to transport the leaves to the Recycling Center at the Shady Grove Processing Facility and Transfer Station.
Help us improve
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