********CRITICAL******** -  FIRST MONDAY - All leaves must be at the curbside on the first Monday of the scheduled period for collection in that Township. Leaves not at curbside on the first Monday of the collection period for that Township will be "passed by" when the vac crews complete your service area. Leaves raked to the Curb after the vacs have passed by will not be collected unless you have a future pass scheduled for your home. 

DON'T BAG - Do not bag leaves if you would like them collected by the program. They will not be picked up and we will not return.

- ONLY Leaves - NO Branches, tree limbs, grass clippings, pine needles, pet feces and trash mixed with leaves will cause the entire leaf pile to be "passed by" and the Vac crews will not return to that pile. The resident will be solely responsible for disposing of the contaminated pile. Crews document the contaminated pile thru digital recording/doorhangers.

NO BURNING - No Burning Allowed. Smoldering leaves or ashes of any kind are a Fire Hazard and will not be collected at any time and resident will be solely responsible for disposal.

Residents may only burn leaves in the Fall during County approved amnesty period. Residents who burn leaves outside of the ban will be cited by County Police. The St. Joseph County Board of Commissioners has not announced the Fall 2018 Burn Amnesty Period.

If you choose to burn your leaves, burn them completely because vac crews cannot collect partially burned piles due to safety concerns for Team Members, Equipment and the possibility of Tip and disposal site fires. Hidden embers may start equipment & tip site fires.

- All leaves must be easily accessible and at least 15' minimum from mailboxes & obstacles to prevent property damage. Leaves must be at least 25' from a parked vehicle to prevent damage to the vehicle. Do not leave trash cans/bags within 15' of leaf piles. Please DO NOT park on or near leaves if you want your pile collected. Crews will not return.

- Keep all leaves out of ditches. Vac hoses do not have adequate reach to collect below road grade and crews do not rake piles out of ditches to the road. Crews are not authorized to leave the roadway at any time due to damage/safety rules.

– Pictures & Doorhangers documenting non-conformance/rule violations are forwarded to the County. Some residents may only receive one pass this year due to County changes. If you miss that pass due to a rule violation, you will be solely responsible for disposing of the pile. Doorhanger addresses are emailed to Customer Service & the County with pictures/video of the Policy non-conformance/violation. The non-conforming leaves may be marked with photo-degradable paint to clearly identify the non-conforming leaves to vac crews and for video recording purposes. Doorhangers/associated pictures are posted online with day/time stamps. The violations are left to right and first row then second row beginning with too close to a mailbox, leaf pile on a stone bed, grass clippings mixed in pile, behind the house & too far off the alley, over the curb, off the sidewalk too far from the street, over 5' from road.

– Do not put leaves inside, on and/or near fences of any type. Resident will be solely responsible for disposal.

- All leaves must be within 5' of the roadside/curbside without going into the street. Leaves in the street clog drains & cause flooding. St. Joseph County may ticket violators. Any Portion of the pile cannot extend more than 5 feet from asphalt/road. If you have a sidewalk next to the roadway the leaves must be raked completely onto the sidewalk for collection. The leaves beyond 5' will not be collected. Vacs are not allowed to leave the roadway due to potential property damage. In cul d sacs only, leaves may be moved to center of cul d sac only during snow plan periods making access easier for County to pile snow on curb without burying leaf piles. The following pictures show violations of the 5' rule and disposal of all of the piles were the responsibility of the residents.

 - DO NOT mix grass clippings or pine needles mixed with leaves that come from mowing collection systems at curbside. Grass clippings clog vacs, delay service for other residents and are not allowed at disposal sites due to smell when decomposing. Please be considerate of other residents and do not mix grass with leaves which slows service. There are 2 easy solutions to prevent grass clippings in your leaves. Raise mowing deck or use leaf blowers to collect only leaves.

- Leaf Piles that are not on a residence front or side lawn per the Program Rules will not be collected. County Program does not include collection on non-resident roadway across from resident lawns or wooded lot curb lines without homes.

- Leaf Piles that are not farther than 80' from the end of "No Outlet" roads that do not have cul d sac turnarounds will not be collected. Trucks & Vac rig combined total length do not allow safe collection without backing up the rig on a residential street which is not authorized due to safety considerations. Crews are not authorized to back up the collection rigs for any reason due to safety considerations. In streets where vacs cannot access the leaf pile, the resident must rake the leaf pile to an area that is allowed per program guidelines that safely allows the vac crew to collect without endangering equipment and/or Team.

– All owners with natural wooded lots without lawn area shall NOT receive collection. It is recommended by the County that composting alternatives be incorporated by the owners.

NO EXCEPTIONS

1. You missed my house!!! When will you be back?!?!?!?

Answer: All collection vehicles have GPS tracking units installed so that in the event any "missed calls" are called in, the Care Center check our tracking documentation to see if it was truly missed or vacs had already gone by and there were no leaves at the time. We also use video service verification to confirm all GPS trails.  

GreenWorld confirms service verification Four different ways:

a. Crew Leader documents completion reports by subdivision as completed.

b. Route Leader physically drives and scouts neighborhood and confirms in completion report.

c. GPS Satellite Tracking provides curb line tracking report so that we can "see" and document every curb line completed.

d. Scouts videotape curblines after collection to provide proof of service with day & time stamps.  

If vacs truly missed your residence AND it was scheduled for a pass and was registered if required, vacs will return within 72 hrs. to collect your pile. If vac crews haven't completed your area, we will let you know that the vac crews will be by in the future and haven't "missed" you because they haven't completed your service area yet.

If completed, CSR will let you know if there is a remaining pass or if the program is complete for your area and you are respsonsible for disposing of the pile. 

2. I mulch my leaves with my mower which also picks up minor grass clippings. Will you pick up my leaves?

Answer: NO. Mulched & mowed leaves at the curbside present special problems for the vac crews beyond just the issue of grass clippings. Mulching mowers compact the leaves and normally exit the mower collection device in what we call a "brick". They are called "bricks" because due to the compaction and inherent density, these "bricks" will not vac up readily at the curbside without additional labor using special tools to break the "brick" into pieces that will readily flow through the vac without clogging. These "bricks" are sometimes "buried" in the curbside piles and the boom man inadvertently "hits" a "brick" and immediately can clog the machine causing as much as 3-4 man hours lost time, while the crew waits as the vac hose is unclogged. When the conditions turn cold and wet, the damage the "bricks" do to the efficiency of the crew is multiplied one hundred fold as the bricks frequently are very hard to break up into pieces that will vac up without clogging. Please do not include any grass clippings at the curbside with your leaves for collection. If you do you will be "passed by" NOT "missed" and you will be responsible for disposing of your leaf pile. If vac crews pass by due to grass clippings they will document your contaminated pile with a picture and forward the picture to St Joe County Recycling Customer Service and the County.  

3. Since St Joe County Recycling is picking up our leaves at curbside, will St Joe County Recycling also pick up the leaves from my lawn and beds on a periodic basis?

Answer: Beginning with the Fall 2019 Program, St Joe County Recycling will pick up your leaves in your lawn and bring them to the curbside for immediate collection. This service is at an additional charge to the residents and only after an agreement is accepted by the customer. Competitive hourly rates will be provided. If you would like an estimate for Fall cleanup, please contact Customer Service to Request a quote.

1. QUESTION: When will you be at my house?

ANSWER: See the STATUS tab.  Crews follow Township numbering sequence and if you click on the Townships you can see Zone sequence. Township /Zone order applies except when the Snow Plan is in effect. We will follow the sequence of the schedule but cannot provide specific days until the program has developed some history based on current volumes per township. When the SNOW PLAN is in effect, priority is based on the SNOW tab County Priority List by Subdivision density and volume. See the STATUS & SNOW tabs for more details. 

2. QUESTION: Do you pick up brush & tree limbs?

ANSWER: NO and when any items other than leaves contaminate your pile, you will be solely responsible for disposing of your pile. Crews will not return. The primary reason that vacs cannot collect anything other than leaves is that the disposal sites take only leaves. Grass Clippings smell as they break down and are not allowed in any quantity. Brush, wood and other debris clog and damage equipment and create safety hazards.  

3. QUESTION: I have a limited area at the curb with many leaves to rake out. How do I keep from raking continually to keep the leaves at the curb?

ANSWER: Some residents use tarps over their leaf piles to maintain the leaves at the curb. Tarps also help keep the leaves dryer and snow free if totally covered. St Joe County Recycling will remove the tarps but is not responsible for tarps left at curbside after they are removed from your curb piles. DO NOT use bricks or stones to hold down tarps because they damage leaf vacs. 

4. QUESTION: Since St Joe County Recycling is picking up our leaves at curbside, will St Joe County Recycling also pick up the leaves from my lawn and beds on a periodic basis? This would keep them from blowing away. 

ANSWER: No, at this time individual residential collection is not provided.   

5. QUESTION: What happens when it gets cold and/or snows?

ANSWER: Temperatures must be above 34 degrees at night to allow continued collections. The Leaf Program will halt due to cold temperatures and/or while it is snowing, just like the County, to tend to snow & ice management issues and then return to the Leaf program as quickly as weather permits. Repeated Snowfall causes leaf piles to be "Layered" with snow and ice. To thaw layered snow and ice from piles typically requires a minimum of 5 to 10 days of temperatures above 34 degrees at night and continuously during the day time for the entire 1 to 2 week period. Leaf Piles are being periodically checked with a "pitch fork test". Sometimes pictures are taken of only the top of a leaf pile that appears thawed, but throughout the pile it is still frozen. Collecting chunks of frozen leaf piles causes significant damages to the equipment. If any snow is present or in the forecast, the Snow Plan will be in effect. Go to the SNOW tab for details. 

6. QUESTION: When did the county program start when it was performed by the St. Joseph County Highway Department?

ANSWER: For 14 years the county program always started on the third Monday of October and continued through December 23rd, every year, weather permitting.

7. QUESTION: How many weeks did the county program last when it was operating?

ANSWER: For 14 years it was a full 8-10 week program beginning in the third week of October.

8. QUESTION: How do you suggest residents keep their leaves curbside to them from blowing away?

ANSWER: Some residents use tarps over their leaf piles to maintain the leaves at the curb. Tarps also help keep the leaves dry and snow free if totally covered. St Joe County Recycling will remove the tarps to collect the leaves but St Joe County Recycling is not responsible for tarps left at curbside after they are removed from your leaf piles. Never use bricks or stones to hold down the tarp because they will damage the vacs and the resident will be financially responsible for the damage. Tires or pieces of lumber longer than 3' in length are recommended to hold down the tarp. 

9. QUESTION: I Feel my subdivision classification volume should be classified as Very High/High. How do I get it reevaluated?

ANSWER: The County has prioritized neighborhoods/subdivisions by overall annual volume according to collections performed & Recorded by the St. Joseph County Highway Department. All Prioritization is based on neighborhoods/subdivisions averages, NOT on most leaves collected at any single address. Requests for reevaluations can be made on the contact form by checking the Customer Service option, completing the form and explaining in the “your message” area why you feel the reevaluation should be completed. Reevaluations will not occur during this season. Collection volume for this season will be reviewed for qualification for the following season.  

10. QUESTION: What is the cost for the St. Joseph County Leaf Program?

ANSWER: The County program is a FREE Public Service ONLY for unincorporated areas of St. Joseph County. 

11. QUESTION: I don't see my address/subdivision listed on the medium to very high volume menu pull downs? 

ANSWER: If it is not listed it has been classified by the County as a low/very low volume subdivision. 

12. QUESTION: My house has many trees but I am in a medium or low volume classification subdivision? 

ANSWER: County DID NOT classify density/volume based on a single address or street in a subdivision. Volume classifications are based on the average for your subdivision in relationship to all other County subdivisions based on actual recorded volume for all subdivisions, NOT just your address. You receive the benefit of the average for your neighborhood.  

13. QUESTION: When is the Burning Amnesty Period for Fall 2018? 

ANSWER: The Board Of Commissioners hads not released burn amnesty dates for fall 2018. It is important that you burn your pile completely and remove the ashes. Due to fire hazards and crew safety vacs cannot collect ashes and/or partially burned piles. 

14. QUESTION: I have a basketball hoop alond the side of the road. Do I need to move it?

ANSWER: Yes. Remove temporary/portable basketball hoops off of the street and away from the curb or edge of the pavement. These items protrude into the path of the leaf vacuum machines and will cause damage to the machine and the basketball hoop system.

The St. Joseph County Leaf Collection Program includes ONLY the Unincorporated areas of St. Joseph County and includes ONLY residential dwellings and not their associated vacant lots or nearby (across the street) fields/lots. Most addresses that have 5 digits are in the unicorporated area of the County. All Incorporated areas are not included. The following is a list of the Incorporated areas of St. Joseph County that ARE NOT included in the Leaf Collection Program.

South Bend   Mishawaka   Roseland   North Liberty   Walkerton   Lakeville
New Carlisle   Osceola   Indian Village