Fallen Leaves — Not Just a Chore but a Story

Few burn leaves any longer — think air pollution — but what they do do with them opens up possibilities for good local environmental reporting. Photo: Pat Kight via Flickr Creative Commons (CC BY-NC-ND 2.0).

TipSheet: Fallen Leaves — Not Just a Chore but a Story

By Joseph A. Davis

After the autumn leaves turn beautiful, they fall. Then homeowners have the chore of doing something with them, because they can be a nuisance and a mess.

Those who need an immaculate sheet of green for a yard just want to make them disappear.

But those leaves can also be the start of a local environmental story. So here are some things to know for your reporting.

 

Why it matters

A few very old people can remember when fall brought the smell of burning leaves. That practice was banned in many places in the 1960s because the leaf smoke included air pollution, which could harm health.

 

These days, smoke from

leaf burning is rarely an issue.

But all those ground leaves

have to go somewhere.

 

These days, smoke from leaf burning is rarely an issue. But all those ground leaves have to go somewhere.

Today, municipalities pick them up — often with huge vacuum trucks that suck them out of the gutter and grind them to shreds. Sometimes you have to put them in bags to get them picked up (use paper).

Many towns take them to a municipal waste yard, heap them in long rows and let them rot, producing compost. Sometimes the product is then available for pickup or sold in bags by nurseries and hardware stores.

Some people like to run over the leaves with their power mower, shredding them and ultimately enriching the soil. The desirability of doing that may depend on the thickness and type of leaves.

Not all leaves are suitable for composting and mulching. Holly, oak and evergreens, for example.

Some people have their own compost piles for waste vegetation. Leaves alone will not work. You have to have “green” as well as “brown.” You have to turn the pile. You can buy a leaf shredder, which reduces volume and makes better compost. A lawn mower with a collection bag may also work.

If composting is done right, that product can be an excellent soil conditioner for farmers, landscapers and gardeners. If it is done wrong, we get more nuisance.

 

Story ideas

• What part of municipal government collects leaves in your area? Where do leaf trucks take them? Go there. Ask questions. Report about what you see and learn.
• Ask for a ride-along on one of your local leaf trucks (bring earplugs and goggles). Listen to the workers and what they complain about. Ask what they like. Tell your audience.
• One reason to collect leaves is that they can fill up and muck up storm drains and their catch basins. Are storm drain catch basins regularly cleaned out in your area?
• Buy a sample bag of locally available leaf compost and examine the contents for contaminants like paper and plastic.
• Drive around and find homeowners who have nontraditional landscaping. Talk to them about how they handle leaves.
• Find homeowners who compost their leaves and talk to them about their experiences and opinions. Bring a camera or a photographer.

 

Reporting resources

• Xerces Society: This nonprofit dedicated to invertebrate conservation says that leaving leaves in place over winter can help eco-friendly creepy-crawlies.
• Ecological Landscape Alliance: A very broad-based NGO alliance devoted to sustainable landscaping practices.
• County extension agents: If you look for the helpers, they will give good advice. No full list exists, but you can start here. Also, try simply Googling your county name plus "extension agent.”
• Municipal waste management agencies: Some city or county department is in charge of picking up leaves. Find it.
• Hardware stores and nurseries: If you are lucky enough to have a good one near you, talk to senior staff.

Joseph A. Davis is a freelance writer/editor in Washington, D.C. who has been writing about the environment since 1976. He writes SEJournal Online's TipSheet, Reporter's Toolbox and Issue Backgrounder, and curates SEJ's weekday news headlines service EJToday and @EJTodayNews. Davis also directs SEJ's Freedom of Information Project and writes the WatchDog opinion column.

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* From the weekly news magazine SEJournal Online, Vol. 10, No. 32. Content from each new issue of SEJournal Online is available to the public via the SEJournal Online main page. Subscribe to the e-newsletter here. And see past issues of the SEJournal archived here.