From November through January, City crews operate leaf vacuum trucks and collect paper leaf bags throughout the City. Residents who receive City refuse collection services will receive three passes during the season. Residents are responsible for raking their leaves to the curb or placing leaves into paper leaf bags and placing them curbside for collection. Leaf bags are collected on the same day after regular refuse collection.

A schedule is mailed to residents and posted online in mid-October. The City is sectioned into five collection zones and Old Town has four collection subzones. Each zone will receive three collection passes. To determine your assigned zone, use the Zone Finder feature or refer to the Leaf Collection Mailer.

If the vacuuming schedule is changed, a new schedule is announced on the City’s website, the Leaf Hotline (703.746.LEAF), by an eNews update, via T&ES Facebook, Instagram, and Twitter accounts. The information is also available through Alex311.

Zone 5 (Old Town) has been divided into four subzones to make its service more consistent with the rest of the City. The leaf collection program delivers three passes for each zone. This was not the case for Zone 5 in the past. With the introduction of subzones, residents of Zone 5 will have scheduled dates for each of their three passes.

Sometimes bad weather and equipment problems cause delays. Crews may also take several days to complete leaf pickup in a single zone -- you may not see crews on the first day of collection in your zone.

Leaves should be raked to the curb or placed in paper leaf bags for collection. Avoid gutters and storm drains, and do not rake leaves into alleys or service roads.

Residents are responsible for raking leaves to the curb or placing them curbside in paper bags. Commercial landscaping companies are widely available to rake leaves for a fee. The City does not arrange for such services or endorse any particular service provider.

Leaf bags are collected the same day as your refuse and recycling. For instance, if trash is collected Monday, leaf bags will be collected on Monday, too.

Leaves in plastic bags are considered refuse, collected with normal trash pickup, and disposed of at the Covanta Waste to Energy plant. Plastic bags are unable to be processed into mulch, and therefore are considered trash. Please recycle by putting your leaves into paper bags, so they can be recycled into mulch.

Unfortunately, due to staffing constraints, there is no special leaf pick-up service that can be scheduled in advance. If you have leaves you would like collected before the next leaf collection pass throughout your neighborhood, please put them in leaf bags for collection on your normal refuse collection day. Leaf bags are available for free at designated City facilities.

We cannot give you an exact date for leaf vacuuming on your street. Inclement weather, as well as staffing and equipment constraints, may cause delays.

Unfortunately, the City does not offer special pickup services. Please check your collection date in your zone.

Crews often complete one side of a street and then return for the other side. There is also a chance that crews may be emptying a truck, and will come back to finish the route.

Weather affects the collection schedule. If the weather is bad, crews will not be able to collect leaves, and will need to reschedule for that day. Check online for a weekly updated schedule or sign up for T&ES Resource Recovery eNews to get weekly updates by e-mail.

If crews have already been through your neighborhood zone, then consider checking for the next pass in your zone or placing leaves in paper bags for collection after your normal refuse collection day. 

Leaves are ground into mulch and available to residents in the spring. Visit the City's yard waste page for more information on this program. 

This is to better assist residents to know when their passes are coming.