Milwaukee Makes It Easier To Rake Your Leaves

A leaf pile on S. Lenox St. Photo by Jeramey Jannene.

The Department of Public Works can’t rake your leaves for you. But it can tell you when it’s likely to come by to pick them up.

After quietly introducing it last year, DPW is maintaining an online map of what areas its crews are expected to work in.

The map, available on the DPW website, should help you and your neighborhoods know when you need to hustle to rake and if you’ve missed your window. It also shows if DPW crews will be in an area consolidating piles to make the eventual pickup more efficient.

While mulching leaves on your own property remains an option, the annual leaf collection process is intended to keep leaves from clogging storm drains or entering the sewer system and, ultimately, Milwaukee’s waterways. Phosphorus and other nutrients in the leaves can negatively impact water quality. The leaves DPW collects are mulched and composted, then sold by Purple Cow Organics.

Rake out formally began Oct. 1 and is intended to run through Nov. 15, but warm falls and a slow rate of falling leaves has pushed the deadline back repeatedly in recent years.

The same list of dos and don’ts from prior years still applies. Do: rake leaves more than one foot from the curb and include flowers, garden trimmings and weeds on top of leaf piles. Don’t: Put grass clippings, pumpkins, litter, brush or bags in your piles.

You can bring leaves, or many things you’re not supposed to rake to the curb, to either of the city’s two drop off centers.

Spot a big pine tree while you’re raking? DPW is still looking for a candidate for the city’s Christmas Tree. Interested residents should call 414-286-CITY (2489) with their candidate. The city will cut down the tree, fill the hole and give the tree, and possibly you, a police escort to Deer District to install it, plus you’ll get some free press.