City of Wilmington News and Information

For Immediate Release
Monday, November 17, 2008

Curbside Recycling Expanded to Include Fall Leaves and Yard Waste

City will make FREE paper recyclable bags available to citizens; City vacuum trucks will also collect leaves

(see attached map for Citywide collection schedule)

Wilmington Mayor James M. Baker and Public Works Commissioner Kash Srinivasan announced that beginning today Wilmington is expanding its successful curbside trash recycling program to include the recycling of fall leaves and yard waste.

The City currently diverts nearly 33% of its total trash stream from the landfill to recycling as part of one of the most successful curbside recycling programs in the region. Now, the Mayor says it is time to add to the City’s recycling efforts by collecting leaves and yard waste which will be composted to produce mulch for the City’s parks and open spaces. Leaves and yard waste collected this fall will be taken to a City composting site on East 12th Street where the City has informally recycled and composted leaf and yard waste materials for the past two years.

The Mayor and Commissioner urged citizens to participate in the new leaf and yard waste recycling effort by sweeping/raking their leaves to the curb and onto the street where the material will be collected by City sweeper/vacuum trucks. Citizens are also urged to bag their own leaves and yard waste in recyclable paper bags that will be distributed FREE by the City to citizens, community and neighborhood associations.

“I am very proud of the support we have received from citizens for our recycling and greening efforts in Wilmington,” said Mayor Baker. “It is time now to turn our attention to leaves and yard waste and do what is correct environmentally by recycling 100% of this material if possible. With citizen support I know we can move toward achieving this goal.”

Distribution of FREE (recyclable paper) Leaf Collection Bags

FREE leaf/yard waste collection bags are available to citizens in a variety of ways:

• Citizens and neighborhood and community organizations can pick-up FREE bags Monday through Friday from 10 a.m. to 3 p.m. at the City Municipal Complex at 500 Wilmington Avenue. Community and neighborhood associations are urged to organize community clean-up events based on a citywide collection schedule also being announced today, and to distribute the bags to neighbors and association members in advance of the clean-up event.

• FREE bags are available Monday through Friday at any of the City’s eight Community Tool Shed locations and from the Office of Constituent Services on the 3rd floor of the Redding City/County Building at 800 North French Street in Downtown Wilmington. Citizens should call ahead to schedule a bag pick-up. The locations are:

1. William “Hicks” Anderson Community Center, 501 North Madison Street
2. 2nd District Planning Council Office, 2205 Jefferson Street
3. Kingswood Community Center, 23rd and Bowers Streets
4. Latin American Community Center,  403 North van Buren Street
5. People’s Settlement Association, 408 East 8th Street
6. Riverfront Development Corporation, 815 Justison Street
7. West End Neighborhood House, 710 North Lincoln Street
8. Wilmington Police Athletic League (PAL) Center, 3707 North Market Street
9. Constituent Services Office, 800 North French Street

Place Your Leaf and Yard Waste Collection Bags Out With Your Trash

Once leaves have been collected into the FREE paper bags, they should be placed at the curb on Thursday or Friday, depending on which day trash is collected in a particular neighborhood. City sanitation crews will collect the bags within 48-hours of the bags being placed at the curb.

Curbside Collection of Leaves by City Sweeper/Vacuum Trucks

Beginning this week through mid-December, Public Works crews will use special sweeper/vacuum trucks to collect leaves that have been raked over curb areas onto the street. Citizens must adhere to a leaf collection schedule also being announced today that explains in which areas of the City crews will be working. Leaves should not be raked to the curb until you know that City crews will be in your area with the sweeper/vacuum trucks. The curbside vacuuming of leaves schedule is as follows:

• November 17 through December 1…Area 1 (Northwest) and Area 4 (Baynard Boulevard/Concord Avenue), loosely bounded by Market Street to Miller Road and from Brandywine River to Rockwood Road.

• November 24 through December 5…Area 8 (Riverside) and Area 9 (Eastside), encompassing the communities of Prices Run, Riverside, Eastside and South Wilmington.

• December 1 through December 12…Area 2 (Bancroft Parkway), Area 3 (Woodlawn Avenue/Southwest), and Area 5 (Hedgeville), an area loosely bounded by South Park Drive to Hedgeville and Union Street to the City’s south and west boundaries.

• December 12 through December 29…Area 6 (Midtown, West Center City and Browntown) and Area 7 (Westside/Hilltop/Little Italy), an area bounded by Washington Street to Union Street, Lancaster Avenue to Pennsylvania Avenue, plus Midtown Brandywine and Browntown.

For more information about the new leaf and yard waste recycling program, please call Lawrence Collins, Assistant Supervisor, Department of Public Works at (302) 420-8266.

City residents using the services of a private trash/waste removal service must ensure that waste collected is disposed of properly and is not dumped by a private hauler onto City streets or City neighborhoods.

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