By Elliott Brack
Editor and Publisher, GwinnettForum
NOV. 19, 2021 | Norcross and Buford residents enjoy a special “Cadillac service” three months out of the year. These two cities send around a truck to vacuum up leaves raked to the curb. No other Gwinnett homeowners enjoy such a service. The different county waste haulers require homeowners in other areas to bag their leaves before pick up.
This leaf-vacuuming service is no new service. It’s been going on for over 30 years in Norcross, and much longer, as much as 50 years in Buford. And homeowners love it. The leaves are hauled away to be turned into compost. In Norcross the leaf service runs three months a year, from November 1 until the end of January.
Norcross gets its leaf-hauling through its garbage hauler Waste Management, which in turn contracts with Imagescapes of Duluth for the service. It is part of the city’s garbage fee. Blake Manton of Imagescapes runs his leaf service through Norcross residential areas once a week. He has two trucks, but mainly relies upon one larger truck. Sometimes he has to run as much as seven days a week, “If the leaves are wet after rain. We staff the leaf truck with three people full time during the season,” he adds,“and can usually complete the route in five days.”
Manton’s been collecting leaves in Norcross for over 10 years. “I bought the machine the city was using, and it was a 1992 model. We soon got a new system, and it’s much better. Norcross produces a tremendous amount of leaves. It has much more leaves than Buford, because of Norcross’ dense tree canopy. One of our trucks can hold about 15 cubic yards, and we fill that up often, at least four time a week.
“By the time Christmas gets here, the leaves have stopped falling so heavily, and we don’t pick up as often. Some of the oak tree leaves fall later than others, though we pick up fewer leaves toward the end of the season.” He estimates that it cost him about $45,000 a year to run the leaf truck “not counting equipment.”
To dump the leaves, Imagescapes has to pay Downey Trees of Cumming to accept the leaves, which are combined with other yard waste to become compost. “None of our leaves go to the landfill,” he adds. “It’s part of Norcross being a green community.”
Buford City Commission Chairman Philip Beard says that his city has been vacuuming up leaves “as long as I have been on the Council, and that’s 47 years. And it started well before that. It’s part of our waste hauling, and came from the time about 1973 when we doubled our garbage fee from $1 to $2, where it still stands today.”
Buford’s waste hauling originally stemmed from the time when the Buford area had a “second sheriff” for the Sugar Hill Precinct, and its own precinct court. People sentenced to jail by this court were put to work on the trash detail, costing the city nothing for labor. Eventually the legislature struck down the precinct sheriff, and the city then relied on its paid staff for the trash detail.
Beard says: “We pick up everything our citizens put at the curb as part of our garbage system, trimming, discards, limbs, other trash, and of course leaves during the season. And it still only cost our residents $2 a month.”
One person who lives in another of Gwinnett’s 16 cities who knew about this leaf service in Norcross and Buford says: “I wish our city had that service.”
One problem: both city officials ask residents to avoid blowing leaves into the street, as this results in leaves getting into storm drains.
- Have a comment? Send to: elliott@brack.net
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