Vienna Scraps Leaf Mulching Program, Leaf Collections To Continue

VIENNA, VA — Vienna's leaf mulching program will be no more after action by Vienna Town Council Monday. Town Council unanimously approved a motion by Councilmember Steve Potter to halt leaf grinding and let public works continue curbside leaf collection.

For decades, the town had collected leaves, turned them into mulch and made the mulch available at no cost to residents. The decision to reconsider the program came as the town had faced noise complaints for years from residents who lived near the leaf mulching facility on Beulah Road and declining residential interest in leaf mulch in recent years. A recent survey sent to 303 people who ordered mulch last season received a 37 percent response. In the survey, 62 indicated they would order leaf mulch for $50 per load, and 52 said they wouldn't.

On a temporary basis, public works will continue to collect leaves and store them in the Beulah Road facility and use either town or commercial trucks to remove them for disposal. Public works will then develop a long-term solution to leaf removal based on cost and efficiency.

Michael Gallagher, director of the town's public works, noted the impact of increasing gas prices and disposal costs.

In the Town Council discussion, Potter noted rental commercial trucks may have more capacity than town trucks, which could mean less trips for disposal and lower transportation costs.

"If you look at the cost of our using our fleet, and we are hauling leaves back and forth, we have an hourly cost of $192.81," said Potter. "The cost for using a rental fleet is $138.02, which is a 40 percent difference. Now the other factor on this is that the rental trucks use have higher capacity. And because of that, they can take fewer trips, fewer miles, fewer gallons, and it's far more efficient to be able to do that."

Town Council also approved Councilmember Chuck Anderson's motion for the Conservation and Sustainability Commission and town staff to study the environmental and economic costs and benefits of residents leaf mulching on their own properties. The motion asks for a recommendation to Town Council to increase on-site leaf mulching.

Anderson said the town could introduce a public education program for residents to do leaf mulching on their properties and potentially incentives for those who do so.

"I know that not everyone is in a position to do this," said Anderson. "But the work of the staff and the [Conservation and Sustainability Commission] made it very clear that from an environmental standpoint, that was by far the lowest carbon footprint and the best result. And from an economic standpoint, it's also the cheapest because we don't incur the costs of picking them up."