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Leaf collection under way in Kingsport, Sullivan

Published November 4th, 2009 | 0 Comments

Glenn Dykes, left, and Josh Barron vacuum up leaves on Lynnwood Street last week. David Grace photo.

KINGSPORT — The city of Kingsport is in the fourth week of its annual leaf collection service, collecting more than 140 tons of leaves so far this year. The service continues until the week of Jan. 15.

Streets and Sanitation Manager Ronnie Hammonds said the city began collecting leaves Oct. 15 and will continue to do so over the next 10 weeks. Residents can rake their leaves to the curb (or put them in bags), and public works crews will come around with a truck and collect or vacuum up the leaves for free.

Bagged leaves will be picked up on residents’ regularly scheduled trash day.

“We see that leaves started falling really heavy last week, and we will probably be on a 10-day cycle from now on, for the next four weeks at least,” Hammonds said. “We have been on a five-day cycle up until this week, and we still have all routes on one day. But the rest of the week will be our heaviest parts, and we anticipate it stretching out a little bit.”

Hammonds said people should rake the leaves to the edge of the roadway, but not into the roadway, and be sure not to include any sticks, rocks or debris as the material would damage the large vacuums used on the trucks to collect the leaves.

“We’re very dependent on our machines, and rocks and sticks will break the machines down, and that increases our cycle of collection,” Hammonds said, noting debris did damage one vacuum last year. “So far this year we’ve been pretty lucky, relatively free of any downtime.”

Kingsport collects on average 1,700 tons of leaves a year. Last year the city collected 1,900 tons, and so far this year Kingsport has collected 140 tons (with 82 tons last week).

“This week we’ll probably double that,” Hammonds said.

Kingsport takes all of the leaves and stores them at the demolition landfill, turning them with a bulldozer to turn them into compost — a process that takes two to three years. The city then uses the compost on all landscaping projects throughout the city, as well as using it to cap the landfill when it closes out a cell.

Kingsport has established a leaf line for residents to call to know where the trucks are going to be to collect leaves. The number is 224-2429.

Sullivan County this week began its leaf collection service, now in its second year.

Dean Bamman, dispatcher for the Sullivan County Highway Department, said the service began this past Monday, with the county providing one truck for the service and another truck on the way.

“You can bag them or rake them to the street and call me, and I’ll make out a work order and we’ll come by and pick them up,” Bamman said, noting the turnaround now is about a week.

However, as news spreads of the county’s leaf collection service, Bamman said the turnaround for service would extend to one to two months before a truck can come out and pick up or vacuum up your leaves.

“It’s quicker if you bag them,” he said.

Sullivan County will not collect leaves within the city limits, even though city residents pay county taxes.

“It’s not our jurisdiction,” Bamman said.

County residents are allowed to burn their leaves, but Bamman said residents probably need to check about getting a burn permit.

To request leaf collection in Sullivan County call 279-2820.

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