What Are We Going to Do With All These Leaves?

If the weather the past few days wasn’t dreary enough, now we’ve got a whole mess of leaves to deal with. But our highway crews are getting ready to help with that, unless you live in East Hampton, where leaf pickup was cut during the town’s budget crunch a few years back and has not yet been reinstated.

Here are the leaf pickup schedules from throughout the East End:

Riverhead Town

Riverhead begins pickup on November 30 and they’re asking the public to have their loose leaves at curbside by 7 a.m. on Monday of the week your area has been scheduled. They’re also asking that you place them in one pile, not in a line down the front of your property. The pickup schedule is as follows:

Nov. 30th – Laurel Lane to Northville Turnpike
Dec. 7th – Northville Turnpike to Hulse Landing Road
Dec. 14th – Hulse Landing Road to Brookhaven town line

Riverhead town garbage contractors pick up bagged leaves curbside every week year-round with Thursday and Friday yard waste/bulk item collection, and they have free biodegradable leaf bags for town residents at the Highway Department at 1177 Osborn Avenue.

Southold Town

Southold’s Highway Department will begin collecting bagged leaves only, in biodegradable leaf bags, beginning Monday, Nov. 16. They will begin work at Orient Point and end in Laurel, but they’re asking all residents to have their leaf bags at curbside beginning Nov. 16.

Southold will have no curbside collection of branches and brush but tip fees will be waived for brush and branches brought in residential vehicles to the Cutchogue landfill from Saturday, Nov. 1, through Monday, Nov. 30. Leaves may be delivered to the compost site free of charge year-round.

Southampton Town

Southampton Town will begin picking up leaves, in biodegradable paper bags only, beginning Monday, Nov. 30. The town’s highway department is asking residents to begin bringing their leaves to the curb on Nov. 16. The town will not be picking up brush but you can get more information about free brush disposal by calling 631.283.5210.

Residents over 73 years of age can put loose leaves at the curb, but they must call the highway department at 631.283.5210 before Nov. 30 to register for this special senior program.

Villages throughout the East End have gotten a jump-start on leaf programs this year.

Greenport Village

Greenport Village picks up leaves and branches two days per month throughout most of the year, with two remaining pickups scheduled this year on Nov. 24 and Dec. 8. The village encourages the use of biodegradable bags.

Sag Harbor Village

The Village of Sag Harbor Highway Department will collect leaves one day per week during the month of November, working from one side of the village to the other over the course of the month. Brush will not be collected in the fall leaf clean-up program.

East Hampton Village

East Hampton Village picks up leaves on residential streets from the second week in October through the second week in December. Leaves should be left for pick-up on the edge of your property but not in the road. No brush, branches, or trash are allowed in the pickup.

Westhampton Beach

The Village of Westhampton Beach Department of Public Works began its fall brush pick up on Nov. 2. Leaves and brush may be put out at curbside in separate piles throughout the month of November up until Nov. 30. Small branches cannot exceed 3 inches in diameter and 3 feet in length. They’re encouraging the public to use biodegradable bags for leaves.

East Hampton Town?

Meanwhile, over in East Hampton, town government has not yet taken up the possibility of reinstating the leaf program.

Pam Nelson of the Settlers Landing Property Owners Association told the town board at their Nov. 5 meeting that she hopes that will change soon.

“This is the Number One issue to us. This is a core service,” she said. “Not getting it is unfair and it’s an inequitable burden for our area.”

Ms. Nelson said she and her neighbors would be willing to pay higher taxes in order to bring the program back, since it costs homeowners quite a bit of money now to have contractors haul the leaves away.