Spring Pick-Up Schedule

With warm sunny days and daylight savings time, spring leaf pickup cannot be far behind.

The Department of Public Works (DPW) has scheduled its annual spring collection of fallen leaves and yard waste for the weeks beginning Monday, April 24 and Monday, May 8. During those weeks up to ten bags of leaves and yard waste will be collected on residents' regular trash collection day.

This year there is one significant change to the program. All materials must be put into paper compost bags. The contractor will not collect leaves or yard waste in plastic bags under any circumstances. A number of local retailers, including Trustworthy Hardware, Aubuchon Hardware, Agway, Wal-Mart and Shaw's Supermarket carry biodegradable paper bags in packages of five at a cost of less than $3.

Leaves and yard waste will be collected by a different truck than the one that collects the normal household trash. The DPW recommends that residents separate their yard waste from their household trash, either by placing them on opposite sides of the driveway or some distance apart.

Residents who choose not to put their yard waste at the curbside or those who find themselves with more than 20 bags of yard waste can take it directly to the composting area of the Laconia Transfer Station on Meredith Center Road. Any waste taken to the transfer station in biodegradable paper bags can be deposited directly on the compost pile, bag and all. But, plastic bags must be opened and emptied on to the pile and the bags disposed of separately. There is no charge for using the compost pile. The transfer station is open on weekdays between 7:30 a.m. and 3:30 p.m. and on Saturday mornings from 8 a.m. until noon.

Residents with questions can call Ann Saltmarsh at DPW, 528-6379.

Maureen Concannon spent much of the morning yesterday filling some of the more than 100 bags of leaves shed by the trees towering above her home on Pleasant Street. After filling nearly a dozen bags, she said that "the other side of the yard hasn't been touched." Meanwhile, another three dozen plastic bags full of leaves lurked beneath a stand of evergreens. "I've got to empty them into paper bags or take them to the transfer station and cut them open," Concannon sighed. "I think maybe they need to collect more often." (Laconia Daily Sun photo/Michael Kitch)