Here’s The Where, When & How Of Disposing Leaves In Bangor & Brewer

It's that time of year again; time to get rid of those leaves that have fallen into your yard. Mother Nature did the easy part and provided the wind over this past long weekend. Now it's your turn to step up to the plate and bat clean up, or in this case less batting, more clean up.

In some spots across Eastern Maine, leaves are picked up by municipal Public Works crews. In other, you have to bag them up and/or dispose of them yourself.

Here's a list of what to expect in Bangor and Brewer.

BANGOR

According to David Warren, Administrative and Communications Manager with the City Manager’s Office in Bangor, Bangor Public Works crews will start collecting leaves on Monday, November 4th.

"It will probably take a few weeks for crews to hit every street to collect leaves. It should be noted that the city’s intention is to collect all leaves, but that effort can be hampered by repeated rounds of inclement weather. If there are several days of foul weather then there may be some streets where leaves are not rounded up. But as long as the weather cooperates, the intention is for crews to vacuum leaves from each city street."

Warren says you can find more information by checking out this website. He says to pay close attention to the graph on the first page for details on how to correctly rake the leaves into place so that crews can vacuum them up.

"It’s important that no rocks, branches, etc. are mixed in with leaves."

Public works officials say the leaves should be raked up along the side of the road, so the big vacuum units can come to suck them into the trucks for disposal. They advise taking care not to have sticks, stones, or other debris mixed in the pile, as that could not only hurt the public works crews, but also potentially damage the equipment used to remove the leaves, and nobody wants that.

If you'd rather not wait for the trucks, you also have the option of bagging your brush and dropping it off at the Bangor Public Works Compound at 530 Maine Avenue, Monday through Sunday, during daylight hours. But you will need a special sticker to indicate that you are a resident of the city.

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BREWER

According to Brewer's Public Works Director, David Cote, the Brewer Public Works crews will be making the rounds to collect leaves during the first 3 weeks of November.

But citizens in Brewer have to bag up their leaves paper and set them out curbside.

"Leaves placed curbside must be in biodegradable bags and may also include garden waste such as old flowers, small plants, weeds, and an incremental amount of grass.  Please do not dispose of soil, branches, or plant pots in the bags. Brewer residents can also deliver their leaves to the Brewer Recycling Center located at 406 Elm Street at no cost, any time of year."

If you'd rather just peep leaves and leave the raking be, here are some pretty great shots of leaves not making a mess of your lawn.