www.thesuburban.com
City crews will be going door-to-door,
picking up leaves from residential curbsides from Oct. 15-Nov. 16.
Laval instituted the program to reduce
the load on municipal landfill sites, by
redirecting the valuable organic material
to farmers who will use the leaves to fertilize their soil.
“Since the program’s inception, Laval
has sent some 14,333 tons of leaves to
local farmers,” municipal spokeswoman Myriam Legault said in a statement. “It’s a
natural and economical fertilizer.”
leaves in paper bags before 7 a.m., on the
day that their garbage is collected.
Officials specified that plastic bags will not
be accepted.
Legault explained that citizens may also
bring their leaves to one of the neighbourhood
drop-off centres listed in the environment
section of the www.ville.laval.qc.ca web site.
“Pumpkins and bales of straw will also
be collected during the door-to-door pick-up,” she added, “and are accepted at the
neighbourhood drop-off centres as well.”
Legault suggested that residents who
prefer to keep their leaves to take advantage of the nutrients stored in them, can
instead shred them with their lawnmowers and spread them evenly over their
lawn, or work a thin layer of leaf mould
into their gardens or flower beds.
She noted that leaves can also be
decomposed in home composters.
“It’s advisable to dry them first in paper
or jute bags, or pierced plastic bags,”
Legault recommended.
