Leaf Collection Begins Oct. 31

Royal Oak residents were out in force over the weekend and early this week cleaning up their yards and piling up leaves. But they'll have to wait a bit longer for pickup.

The  plans to begin its six-week leaf collection schedule on Oct. 31. Each area of the city will be covered at least twice within the six weeks, DPS says.

Royal Oak uses 12 dump trucks, two sweepers, a front-end loader with a clam bucket and two sewer vacuum trucks with crews working long hours to cover the 212 miles of streets twice during the pickup season, according to the city.

DPS waits until late October to begin the process to make sure most of the city's leaves are down.

What does the city do with all those leaves? Royal Oak's leaves go the Southeast Oakland County Resource Recovery Authority's (SOCRRA) compost facility in Rochester Hills where they are turned into compost. The compost is offered to residents in SOCRRA member communities, including Royal Oak, for use as mulch.

Fall 2011 leaf collection schedule

Schedules are subject to change due to weather conditions, mechanical breakdowns or other factors beyond the city’s control. If collections are ahead of schedule, a truck will be down your street on the regularly scheduled day of pickup, the DPS says. Saturdays not scheduled for designated pickup areas will be used as catch-up days as needed.

Week 1 (view map) 
Oct. 31: 11 Mile to 12 Mile - Woodward to Main
Nov. 1: 11 Mile to 12 Mile - Main to Campbell
Nov. 2: Lincoln to 11 Mile - Woodward to Campbell
Nov. 3: 10 Mile to Lincoln - west city limits to Campbell
Nov. 4: 10 Mile to 12 Mile - Campbell to Stephenson

Week 2 (view map) 
Nov. 7: 12 Mile to 13 Mile - Main to Campbell
Nov. 8: 13 Mile to north city limits - Main to Campbell
Nov. 9: 12 Mile to 13 Mile - Crooks to Main
Nov. 10: 12 Mile to 13 Mile - Woodward to Crooks
Nov. 11: Veteran's Day - no pickup
Nov. 12: 13 Mile to Normandy - Woodward to Main

Week 3 (view map) 
Nov. 14: Webster to Normandy - Greenfield to Woodward
Nov. 15: Normandy to north city limits - Greenfield to Crooks
Nov. 16: Catalpa to 12 Mile - Woodward to Main
Nov. 17: 11 Mile to Catalpa - Woodward to Main
Nov. 18: 11 Mile to Gardenia - Main to Campbell
Nov. 19: Gardenia to 12 Mile - Main to Campbell and 11 Mile to 12 Mile - Campbell to Stephenson

Week4 (view map)
Nov. 21: 10 Mile to 11 Mile - west city limit to Main
Nov. 22: Lincoln to 11 Mile - Main to Campbell
Nov. 23: 10 Mile to 11 Mile - Campbell to Stephenson
Nov. 24: Thanksgiving - no pickup
Nov. 25: Day after Thanksgiving - no pickup

Week 5 (view map) 
Nov. 28: 10 Mile to Lincoln - Main to Campbell
Nov. 29: 12 Mile to 13 Mile - Rochester to Campbell
Nov. 30: 12 Mile to north city limits - Main to Rochester
Dec. 1: 12 Mile to 13 Mile - Crooks to Main
Dec. 2: 12 Mile to Webster - Woodward to Crooks
Dec. 3: Webster to 13 Mile - Greenfield to Crooks

Week 6 (view map) 
Dec. 5: 13 Mile to 14 Mile - Greenfield to Woodward
Dec. 6: 13 Mile to 14 Mile - Woodward to Coolidge
Dec. 7: Normandy to north city limits – Coolidge to Crooks
Dec. 8: 13 Mile to Normandy - Coolidge to Main
Dec. 9: 13 Mile to north city limits - Rochester to Campbell

Make leaf collections go smoothly

• No parking on the street: The city will post signs in neighborhoods when leaf-vacuuming trucks are ready to make their rounds. "A parked car left out front doesn't just affect one house," DPS Director Greg Rassel said. "The trucks have to go around and sometimes they also can't pick up neighbors' leaves." 
• Have your leaves ready at the curb: Check the schedule for your pickup date or call 246-3300 (option 5, then option 1) for an update.
• Leaves only: Remove sticks, rocks, pieces of wood and other hard objects from leaf piles because they can damage propellers in the leaf vacuums.
• Don't pile too high: Do not make the rows of leaves larger than 3 feet high and 4 feet wide.