Leaf Pickup Expected to Continue Past Thanksgiving

The leaves are falling later than usual this year, according to Smithtown Highway Superintendent Glenn Jorgensen.

"We started this week," said Jorgensen last Thursday. "It's scarce right now, but we have started."

He said that residents under his department's jurisdiction, which includes Kings Park and parts of Commack and Hauppauge, should put their leaves in bags and leave them by the curb any day of the week.

Jorgensen estimated that he has 70 percent of his staff picking up bags during leaf season. He said it is a process that takes between four and six weeks, beginning in early November with the goal being to have it wrapped up by Thanksgiving.

But not this year.

"The weather affects how leaves fall. Everything depends on when they come down. It also depends on the weekends - when it's nice out, residents rake their yards," Jorgensen said.

Jorgensen stressed that the bags should not be put in the street, or contain foreign objects like garbage or other non-organic materials.

"We've had everything stuck in these bags, from basketballs to anything you can think of," he said. Small twigs are acceptable in the bags, he said, but larger sticks and branches are taken separately, and more easily if they are bundled and tied.

When the bags are light, it takes about a week to get through the whole town; two weeks when the bags are full. Crews typically do five full rounds of pickups during the season, said Jorgensen.

He said that bags will not be made available to residents by the town this year, as has been the case for the last five years. He said he always puts the item in the budget but it never makes the final cut.