Cape Girardeau leaf-collecting season is here

Not many leaves are falling yet, but people who live in Cape Girardeau can expect to see the city's collection truck soon making its way down streets in search of leaf piles as autumn continues.

The city's annual leaf-collection program officially began this week and will continue through March 28. Unscheduled routes, which were put into place last year to provide more frequent pickups, start today and end Nov. 1. Scheduled routes will follow -- and this year will cover a larger number of smaller zones throughout the city, so residents will be able to determine a more set time for the arrival of a truck, said Mike Tripp, the city's solid-waste superintendent, who coordinates the leaf pickup program. The city began loose-leaf pickup in 2011. Only four zones were included the first year.

Last year, a chief complaint was the truck was not coming often enough on a scheduled route, meaning leaf piles would be blown apart and require raking a second or third time before the automated truck came around to collect the leaves.

This graphic shows the zones and schedule for the 2013 Cape Girardeau leaf pickup program.

"We had some people calling in when we went through the first time and would want to know when we were coming back," Tripp said.

In planning this year's routes, Tripp used data collected from last year's routes to help set a clarified schedule for zones. Streets in each zone also will be covered as many times during the scheduling window as possible.

The leaf program on the city's website, at cityofcapegirardeau.org/leaf, is planned to be updated each day the truck runs with the approximate locations to be covered. The information will be posted after the start of the first scheduled route, which is Nov. 4.

Unscheduled routes will run from Dec. 16 until the end of the program.

In addition to the pickup service, the city will continue to offer free drop-off of leaves for residents from Nov. 4 through Dec. 20. Hours are between noon and 4 p.m. Monday through Friday and from 10 a.m. to 3 p.m. each Saturday. The drop-off location is at 453 Cooper St.

Other leaf disposal options are purchasing compost bags from the city and arranging for a pick up. The city also encourages people to mulch the leaves back into their yards.

Additional information on leaf disposal options, pickup routes and placement of leaves for automated truck collection can be found online at cityofcapegirardeau.org/leaf.

eragan@semissourian.com

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Pertinent address:

401 Independence St., Cape Girardeau, MO

453 Cooper St., Cape Girardeau, MO