Western Springs Leaf Pickup 'Difficult, Costly,' Changes Planned

WESTERN SPRINGS, IL – In response to residents' feedback, Western Springs plans to make changes to its curbside leaf pickup service.

Over the last few months, the village has received more than 700 responses to the survey about the program.

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According to the village, most residents are satisfied with the service. But the main complaints were about what residents considered late and inconsistent pickups, weather-related delays, leaf-clogged storm drains and safety issues with leaf piles in streets.

Last year, the first snow arrived before the village could collect all the piles, causing problems.

For this year, the village said it would improve its communications with residents and increase enforcement of keeping pumpkins and other landscaping materials out of the leaf piles.

Officials also said they would explore an option of another pickup in December.

"Moving into the future, we can consider bigger changes, including starting leaf collection later, limiting the number of pickups, possibly collecting leaves from the parkways instead of the streets," Trustee Scott Lewis said.

He said the village would spend the next year to take a deep dive into its options.

"(The program) is difficult and costly to operate," Lewis said. "Nearly all public works staff are committed to leaf collection during the season. And on top of that, we spend $50,000 to $60,000 annually to have the leaves hauled out of town."

Western Springs is one of the few towns where public works crews handle most of the leaf pickup program.

Of 157 towns surveyed in Cook and DuPage counties, only 11 have public works do some type of leaf pickup, according to the village.