Vacuum leaf pick up suspended in Lexington this year. Here’s why, plus alternate options

Lexington is suspending vacuum leaf pick up this year, citing cost, lack of employees and available equipment.

The service, which allows residents to rake leaves between the sidewalk and the curb without bagging, is also costly. The price tag for leaf collection was more than $600,000 last year.

The city has also lost some equipment needed for the service that won’t be available before the leaf pick up, city officials have previously said.

A high number of vacancies in the streets and roads department would also mean fewer pothole and other necessary repairs during leaf pick up.

Instead, the city is encouraging residents to find alternatives to vacuum leaf pick up.

Environmental Quality and Public Works Commissioner Nancy Albright told the Lexington-Fayette Urban County Council during a Tuesday work session the city has come up with some solutions.

One alternative is composting fallen leaves by mowing them back into lawns and putting the remains into compost piles.

Albright said home owners on city services also can put their leaves in yard waste bins to be picked up once a week. People who need gray yard waste bins can call LexCall at 3-1-1.

The city will also give people more coupons for yard waste bags. Typically households receive 15 coupons per year. That number will increase to 45. Postcards reminding people of the change for leaf pick up will go out soon. Those postcards will have additional yard waste coupons.

All Lexington residents can bring leaves to the Haley Pike Landfill, 4216 Hedger Lane, for free during the months of November and December. The city has suspended the fees at Haley Pike Landfill to take those leaves, Albright said. Those leaves do not need to be bagged.

Several city council members have expressed concerns that the popular service was going away this year. However, others said the service has been unreliable given how much it costs. The city has to guess when leaves will fall in certain areas. That means that sometimes the vacuum leaf service comes to certain neighborhoods too late or too early for most leaf drops.

Councilwoman Amanda Bledsoe said the service has never been perfect. But the city can’t provide vacuum leaf pick up at the level it has provided in the past.

“We don’t have the people to do this well,” Bledsoe said.

Councilwoman Liz Sheehan, who represents much of the Chevy Chase area and is up for reelection, said she has already heard concerns from residents about the loss of vacuum leaf services. Sheehan’s district has more trees than any other council district, recent tree canopy surveys show.

“I’ve already heard from people who are upset about it, including some neighborhoods,” Sheehan said.

Albright told the council Tuesday the city will ramp up communication efforts on the change from vacuum to curbside leaf collection, mulching or composting during the week of Oct. 24 and will continue through Nov. 20.