[Archived] City Of Alexandria’s Expanded Leaf Collection Program Succeeds In First Year Of Operation

City Press Release


	For Immediate Release	For More Information, Contact
	January 4, 2007 PIO# 004-07/jbh	Brian Hannigan, Director of Communications, or Raynard Owens, Communications Officer, at 703.838.4300 Raynard Owens, Communications Officer, at 703.838.4300

CITY OF ALEXANDRIA’S EXPANDED LEAF COLLECTION PROGRAM SUCCEEDS IN FIRST YEAR OF OPERATION
Final Week of Season for Biodegradable Leaf Bags

The City of Alexandria’s 2006 leaf collection program is set to conclude this week following successful implementation of a multi-modal system that combined the vacuum truck collection cycles of previous years with new weekly curbside collection of 30-gallon biodegradable paper bags provided free-of-charge to City residents.

“We are very pleased with the enthusiastic support the biodegradable leaf bag program has received from Alexandria homeowners,” said Richard Baier, Director of the Department of Transportation and Environmental Services. “Through this program, homeowners were able to exercise greater control over when their leaves were collected and over 36,000 cubic feet of bagged leaves were diverted from the waste stream to be recycled into mulch for garden use,” said Baier.

Biodegradable leaf bags are collected in all neighborhoods on the day following regular trash pickups. Due to the New Year’s holiday, both refuse and leaf bag collections are delayed by one day thru Saturday, January 6. After that date, all bagged leaves will be collected as regular refuse and transported to the Alexandria/Arlington Covanta Waste-to-Energy Facility, where they will be burned to produce electricity.

Vacuum truck leaf collections concluded in mid-December.

The Department of Transportation and Environmental Services welcomes public comment on the biodegradable leaf bag program. “The program operated very smoothly for a first-year effort,” said Director Baier. “But we know there is always room for improvement. We intend to learn from our experience and refine the program to promote even greater participation in 2007.”

During the fall, more than 10,500 biodegradable bags were distributed from five locations throughout the City of Alexandria. To date, over 9,000 filled bags have been collected for recycling.

To comment or obtain more information on the City of Alexandria’s refuse and leaf collection programs, call the City's Solid Waste Division at 703-519-3486, send an email to tes.administration@alexandriava.gov, or visit www.alexandriava.gov/tes.

###