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If there’s one thing the city of Columbus wants you to hear about fallen leaves, it’s this: bag those rascals.

This time of year, with dead leaves everywhere, the temptation may be to simply rake them up into a (temporarily) tidy pile at the side of the road or use a leaf blower to blast them out into the street.

Don’t do that, said Chief Operations Officer Jammie Garrett.

“We have people who sweep them up to the edge of the road, but they also sweep them close to the drains, and that creates a bigger problem,” Garrett told The Dispatch. “We discourage blowing leaves into the street, as well, because a lot of times the wind blows them into ditches or drains and it creates an issue.”

Garrett encouraged residents to rake up their leaves, bag them and leave them at curbside for pickup.

Up to 8 bags a week

Pickup is handled by either Golden Triangle Waste Services or by Public Works, Garrett explained.

“(GTWS) picks up as many as eight bags of leaves per pickup,” Garrett said. “You may have an apartment complex that still gets two pickups a week, and they could put out eight bags for both pickups. Most of our residential pickup is once a week, though, so for most people it’s eight per week.”

Sometimes eight bags just isn’t enough to contain the leafy bounty, and in those cases Public Works comes to the rescue.

“We will pick up whatever is left after GTWS comes through,” Garrett said. “Pickup days in Columbus are Monday and Tuesday, so Public Works starts looking for bags of leaves on Wednesday and Thursday.”

If bags are there, Public Works will pick them up, with no upper limit on numbers, Garrett said.

“We can’t determine if someone put out 12 bags and (GTWS) left four, or if there were just four to start with,” Garrett said. “If bags are out, we get them.”

City pickup of bags can lag somewhat depending on the workload and availability of equipment, Garrett said.

“Every ward is covered every week, but we need more time to work through the bigger wards,” Garrett said. “Also we have to look at if equipment is down, or if we have to move staff around. But typically every Wednesday and Thursday they’re on the lookout for leaves.”

While GTWS only picks up leaves seasonally – beginning in November and lasting through March – Public Works picks them up year-round, Garrett said.

Starkville and street sweeping

Over in Starkville, the story is similar.

Mayor Lynn Spruill told The Dispatch the city picks up rubbish – which includes bagged leaves – weekly. Leaves must be bagged, but there is no limit on the number of bags the city will collect.

“We also run the street sweeper every day,” she said. “If there’s a special need for it and a neighborhood contacts us, we’ll pay attention to that area, but we sweep the streets every day.”

In Columbus, the street sweeper runs when it is available, Garrett said.

“We want it out every day, but right now it is down for repairs,” Garrett said. “We hope it will be back up and running next week.”

Brian Jones is the local government reporter for Columbus and Lowndes County.

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