In the past, High Point has at times been envious of Greensboro.
For instance, Greensboro usually gets county offices first, and, over the years, some Guilford County commissioners who represented High Point have felt that High Point never got a fair share of county funding.
However, these days, in at least one area, Greensboro residents may be looking at High Point with envy: Specifically, while Greensboro has very strict guidelines on how to prepare leaves for collection, High Pointers still enjoy the option of piling their leaves up near the street so the loose-leaf collection trucks can suction them up and whisk them away.
The City of High Point is getting ready to start its second round of leaf collection, which will begin on Monday, Jan. 6 and it will wrap up the day after Valentine’s Day.
Most years, the City of High Point starts collecting loose leaves from the curb in mid-November – though they don’t announce what day of the week leaf collection will take place on for various streets. They just tell customers to get the leaves to the curb on Monday by 7 a.m. and they’ll get them sometime that week.
Collection begins on Monday and ends on Friday during each week and unfinished collections for streets carry over until the following week.
The City of Greensboro has changed its leaf collection policies a head-spinning number of times this century, and that has made it very hard for city residents to keep up with the rules.
Some Greensboro residents didn’t realize it when the city stopped accepting leaves in clear plastic bags or when the city stopped offering loose leaf collection at the curb.
Greensboro now accepts leaves and yard debris in large thick paper bags; however, during times of heavy leaf fall some area stores sell out of those bags quickly.
The City of Greensboro warns: “Remember that leaves should not be raked or blown into the curb, right-of-way, or street. Improperly prepared leaves that create a nuisance may be reported to the City’s Code Compliance Division at 336-373-2111.”
Violators may be fined by the City of Greensboro for breaking the rules and additional fines may be tacked on if the situation isn’t resolved in a timely manner.
In Greensboro, you’re supposed to put your yard waste, including leaves, in your 95-gallon gray yard waste container and then bag additional leaves using paper yard waste bags. Up to 10 bags or bundles of yard debris will be collected from the curb weekly year-round. And, from November to February, city crews will collect up to 15 paper bags or bundles of yard waste from the curb.
City of Greensboro leaf leaders are still encouraging city residents to “Leave your leaves where they fall,” because “Leaves provide important habitats for many different species.”
As in Greensboro, the High Point Environmental Services Solid Waste Collection and Disposal Division will no longer accept yard waste in plastic bags. Repeated use of plastic bags in High Point may result in a $250 fine after the grace period.
The yard waste must be at the curb in a city-approved black yard rollout cart or in the large paper bags. City crews will pick up waste such as sticks and other yard debris secured in bundles weighing no more than 50 pounds and with lengths of less than four feet.
High Point, like Greensboro, encourages residents to use alternative forms of disposal such as mulching, backyard composting, and by self-hauling leaves – or other yard waste – to High Point’s Ingleside Compost Facility at 3001 Ingleside Dr.
(It’s open Monday through Friday from 8 a.m. to 4 p.m. and Saturdays 9 a.m. to 1 p.m. and there’s no charge for residential customers, as long as the yard waste is brought from your primary residence and is in your personal vehicle.)
The curbside yard waste service in High Point takes place on the same weekday as the home’s normal trash service collection day. Grass clippings, leaves, limbs, and brush are picked up from residents’ homes once a week on regular collection days. Yard waste collection begins at 6 a.m. Roll-out containers that aren’t out when the truck passes aren’t collected until the next regularly scheduled pickup day.
In High Point, leaves have to be within 8 to 10 feet of the street for collection.
Here’s another High Point leaf collection rule: “Yard waste and leaves generated from work completed by a contractor is NOT eligible for curbside collection. Contractors must remove loose leaves and yard waste from your home after work is completed. If you hire someone to perform services, be sure the cost of hauling yard waste is included in the price.”
what MESS !!
Wasn’t it several years ago that China wanted all the mulched leaves they could buy from the landfill? What happened to that? You’d think farmers would want all of the mulched leave to plow into their fields.
Clowns to the left of me, jokers to the right here I am stuck in the middle…..
Don’t think council members in GSO ever imagined the anger their change in LL collection would garner. They keep pet projects and waste of money projects but could not keep one program that many in the old growth areas have counted on for years. They have gone into debt for the 95 gal bin that many find had to handle. Politicians out of touch. One CC member thinks those on the west side of GSO are privileged and should have for services.
We just had a long weekend in Asheville. I discovered a few things.
First, Asheville has leaf and yard waste collection. Especially needed now with remaining hurricane damage. They picked it up Tues morning, in the dark, in sub-freezing weather.
Second, one thing folks need to do when leaving town is to stop their mail. Which we did. But Mr. DeJoy didn’t, nary a day. Full mailboxes are a com-on for burglars.
Finally, while reading the newspapers my upon return; I discovered that Smithfield (VA) foods was purchased ten years ago by a Chinese company, who is now the largest pork processor in the World. I didn’t know that. A Communist dictatorship now monopolizes the world food supply for pork. They have applied to our govt to list Smithfield on a NY stock exchange (NASDAQ, I think). They don’t have to bomb us, just control what we eat. Sorta like, “we take Taiwan, or you lose your food”. Another Company for me to avoid (there are SO many).