CITY'S LEAF COLLECTION PROGRAM BEGINS OCT. 18

The Cape Girardeau Public Works Department this month will begin its annual leaf collection program by opening a public drop-off site at 1400 S. West End Boulevard.

Steve Triplett, solid-waste coordinator, said the drop-off site will be available to residents throughout the fall leaf pickup program.

"It will be open Oct. 18 and will enable residents to bring leaves into that site," Triplett said. "They'll empty out their bags or containers into a pile at the drop-off site."

The West End drop-off will be open with an attendant Monday through Friday from noon until 5 p.m. On Saturday the site will be open from 8 a.m. until 5 p.m.

"We'll have signs on South West End Boulevard showing people where the drop-off site is," Triplett said. "One thing, we don't want brush and limbs in there, just leaves and small sticks."

The city's curbside collection program will begin Nov. 1, a couple of weeks later than the program started last year.

"Another change is that we'll only go through the city one time this year," Triplett said. "We won't be going through twice like last year."

Also, the city has been divided into six rather than four leaf collection zones.

The key to the changes in the program is the purchase of new equipment that will improve the efficiency and production of the operation.

"We'll open bids on a new piece of machinery Friday," Triplett said. "They're telling us this machine will do three times what a leaf vac will do, which is what we've used in the past."

The city formerly ran three leaf vac machines for leaf collection. With the purchase of the new broom-and-auger type vacuum, only one leaf vac will be used.

"The good thing about the new vac is that it should be able to pick up the wet leaves as well as the dry," Triplett said. "We're hoping we'll be able to cut the manpower substantially, but we really won't know until we see how many rakers it takes."

The city also is seeking farmers interested in getting the leaves for application on their land. Any interested farmers should contact Triplett or Emmett Baker at 334-9151.

The leaf collection program last year started in mid-October but didn't finish until just before Christmas.

Triplett said he hopes that can be cut to six weeks this year. "We've changed the sequence of the routes so we can get to certain areas as the leaves fall," he said.

"In the southeast part of town, the leaves will fall sooner because there are more maples and oaks. Hopefully, we'll get everybody the first time through."

Because the leaves no longer are permitted in landfills, that portion that isn't used for land application will be mixed for compost.