As leaves begin to fall this autumn, Hamilton Township prepares for its annual Leaf Recycling Program.
Beginning Oct. 2t, residents can place open bags or containers of leaves for pick-up on their first garbage collection day of the week; this may be Monday, Tuesday or Wednesday depending on the neighborhood.
Containers must not weigh more than 50 pounds.
Residents are also asked to not place leaves in cardboard boxes or cardboard containers, as the cardboard cannot be recycled as part of this collection and not to place leaves in their regular recycling (yellow or green) buckets.
Also beginning Oct. 21, residents can bring leaves to one of the leaf drop off locations around the community through fall season. A full listing of locations is available on the Township website.
Leaves must be emptied from bags; debris and branches may not be left.
Curbside collection is scheduled to begin Nov. 4. Each neighborhood is set to receive one collection of gutter leaves through the end of December. A schedule of curbside collection for each street is online at hamiltonnj.com.
Residents must have gutter leaves prepared for pick up no later than 7:30 a.m. on the starting date provided for their neighborhood.
According to State Storm Water Management Regulations, leaves may not be placed near the gutter more than seven days in advance of the scheduled pick up.
Last year, the annual program helped remove approximately 12,000 tons of leaves from local stream water and helped taxpayers avoid an estimated $1.67 million in disposal and pick up fees.
A final option for residents to recycle leaves is to bring them to the Township’s Ecological Facility, open 8 a.m. to 3:30 p.m. Monday through Saturday. The facility is free of charge for residential dumping only. However, commercial vehicles, will be charged for dumping.
More information is online at hamiltonnj.com.
