Communication Makes Tentative Leaf Schedule Possible

Mahwah’s leaf pick-up season has officially begun.

For the first time, the township announced this year it would be releasing a week-by-week schedule of its leaf pick-up. 

Leaf pick-up crews will likely be in the following areas this week:

• Cragmere between E Mahwah Rd and Franklin Tpk
• All roads north of Miller and roads south of Airmount Rd
• Franklin Tpk and side roads of the tpk, and the Rutherford Rd area
• Youngs Road and areas off of Youngs
• West Crescent neighborhood
• Chapel Rd and Fardale Ave neighborhoods
• Blue Hills and the Glenmere area
• Meadowlake neighborhood
• Campgaw Rd and neighborhoods south of Youngs Rd

The new schedule, Department of Public Works Director Keith Hallissey said, is more of a guideline than a strict rule, because of the changing nature of leaf pick-up. He urged residents to continue to rake their leaves and leave them at the curb on a regular basis.

“We’ve never published a schedule or alerts of where we will be before,” Hallissey said, citing variable factors like the weather and state of equipment that can change the anticipated course or workload of leaf crews.

“These alerts are good to have, but residents should not plan their entire leaf schedule around them, because they are subject to change. If you were planning to do your leaves this weekend, do them.”

Hallissey said his department had previously resisted releasing a schedule due to the easily changing nature of the work, but that increased methods of communication with residents in the township made the schedule release more feasible.

“People have always wanted to know when we would be out, and past [administrations] have wanted us to release a schedule. 10 years ago, we would have had to release a schedule for the entire season on October 1. Now, we can release it a week at a time, and we can alert residents if the anticipated schedule will be changed. That’s made it more doable.”

By the close of the leaf pick-up season in December, Hallissey said he hopes to pick up leaves from every street in the township three times.

On average, the DPW picks up 14 to 15,000 cubic yards of leaves each year.