When several of us this past month presented to Princeton municipal council a proposal to change the way leaves/brush/yardwaste are collected in Princeton, council member Heather Howard said that Scarsdale, NY, has also, like so many towns, been struggling with this issue. Turns out that Scarsdale has made a big change. Beginning in 2015, it will no longer be in the business of picking up loose leaves from the curb. Instead, the town will make weekly pickups of autumn leaves only if they're placed in paper yardwaste bags. Residents and landscapers will be able to drop off leaves at a local site, and the town will truck them from there to a composting center.
While Scarsdale's program is impressive, there are reasons to question its adaptability to Princeton.
The expectations of Princeton residents have been made very high by the year-round pickup of loose leaves/yardwaste/brush traditional in the former borough. Also, Scarsdale's dropoff site may be much more convenient than the Lawrenceville Ecological Center. Though lack of looseleaf pickup would encourage residents to use their leaves in their yards, many residents and landscapers would be apt to take their leaves to the dropoff site. All those little individual trips may not be the most efficient way to deal with leaves.
Still, here is info on the Scarsdale program and why they chose to make a dramatic change.
Drivers of Change
This change is driven in part by economics. The $800,000 annual cost of vacuuming up loose street leaves in a town of 17,000 (Princeton's closer to 30,000) every fall competes with other budget needs. But another driver of this change is that leaves can be utilized in people's yards. In particular, lawn mowers can be easily retrofitted with a "mulching blade and deck plate", so that leaves can be ground up and returned to the lawn as fertilizer.
Retrofitting Lawnmowers for Mulching Leaves In-Place
The Scarsdale website has a very helpful video that shows the sort of mower retrofit residents and landscapers need to convert their mowers for effective mulching of leaves. Residents essentially have to replace their regular blades with mulching blades available at the hardware store. Importantly, Scarsdale staff are using town parks to demonstrate for residents how to use mulching mowers rather than expect leaves to be hauled away. Princeton's policy in recent years has been a mix. For instance, leaves were traditionally mulched in Potts Park when it was in the borough, but were hauled away last year after consolidation, for no clear reason. Like the Princeton Environmental Commission, Scarsdale recommends the Love 'em and Leave 'em website for more information.
While Scarsdale's program is impressive, there are reasons to question its adaptability to Princeton.
The expectations of Princeton residents have been made very high by the year-round pickup of loose leaves/yardwaste/brush traditional in the former borough. Also, Scarsdale's dropoff site may be much more convenient than the Lawrenceville Ecological Center. Though lack of looseleaf pickup would encourage residents to use their leaves in their yards, many residents and landscapers would be apt to take their leaves to the dropoff site. All those little individual trips may not be the most efficient way to deal with leaves.
Still, here is info on the Scarsdale program and why they chose to make a dramatic change.
Drivers of Change
This change is driven in part by economics. The $800,000 annual cost of vacuuming up loose street leaves in a town of 17,000 (Princeton's closer to 30,000) every fall competes with other budget needs. But another driver of this change is that leaves can be utilized in people's yards. In particular, lawn mowers can be easily retrofitted with a "mulching blade and deck plate", so that leaves can be ground up and returned to the lawn as fertilizer.
Retrofitting Lawnmowers for Mulching Leaves In-Place
The Scarsdale website has a very helpful video that shows the sort of mower retrofit residents and landscapers need to convert their mowers for effective mulching of leaves. Residents essentially have to replace their regular blades with mulching blades available at the hardware store. Importantly, Scarsdale staff are using town parks to demonstrate for residents how to use mulching mowers rather than expect leaves to be hauled away. Princeton's policy in recent years has been a mix. For instance, leaves were traditionally mulched in Potts Park when it was in the borough, but were hauled away last year after consolidation, for no clear reason. Like the Princeton Environmental Commission, Scarsdale recommends the Love 'em and Leave 'em website for more information.
Brush Collection
A visit to the town website did not reveal any info about brush collection. They may simply provide a convenient dropoff site.
Tracking Expenses
The Scarsdale sustainability plan suggests using "Fleetmax software" to generate monthly reports of fuel usage for each employee. Princeton has been struggling to track all the expenses associated with loose leaf collection, e.g. vehicle purchase, operation (including fuel costs), maintenance, staff time, extra passes with the streetcleaner, additional cost of contracting out services that employees could otherwise be performing, lost income from parking spaces blocked by leafpiles, etc.
Even if Princeton's "claw" method of picking up leaves is more efficient than Scarsdale's vacuum trucks, Princeton's larger size and essentially year-round loose yardwaste/brush/leaves pickup service likely means an annual price tag of well over $1 million.
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