Branch and Leaf Pickup Information

Click this link to download the 2024 Branch and Leaf Pickup Calendar

Branch & Leaf Collection Information

• Branch collection typically begins the first week of April and continues through the year until the snow starts falling. This usually occurs in mid-December.
• Leaf pickup begins in October and last through December, weather permitting. It typically picks back up the following April.
• Each week, the route alternates from north to south with US 30 being the dividing line.
• Friday of each week, we concentrate on the streets that require flaggers. These are the main streets where traffic counts and speed limits require extra personnel to assure the safety of the work crews. Residents that live on a flagger street should call the office when they have placed a pile of branches or leaves along the roadway for pick-up. This helps assure that you do not get missed in a given week. Flagger streets are as follows: Main St., Burr St., Kennedy Ave. (from Junction to Main), Junction Ave. (from Kennedy to Joliet) Joliet St. (east of Austin Ave.), Cline Ave., St. John Rd., US 30, US 41, 77th Ave. and Austin Ave. (south of US30).

Branch Pickup Regulations

1. The Town of Schererville Public Works Department offers branch pick-up service, not tree removal service; please limit the items left curbside for pick-up to trimmed tree and bush branches only.
2. While we encourage the eco-friendly methods such as mulching and composting to dispose of weeds, grass clippings, garden spoils and other such types waste, these items should be disposed with your weekly trash pick-up. They should be placed in the 95 gallon tote provided by Republic Services our trash pick-up service or in a supplemental container if needed. Do not leave these types of waste curbside mixed in with branch piles, Schererville PW will not remove them from your residence.
3. Branches left curbside for pick-up are to be no larger than 6” in diameter. These are the limits of our chipping machines. Branches are to be placed in unidirectional piles in the parkway between the sidewalk and street. Branch piles placed in the street can create a hazard and you could be cited for creating a hazard in the street.
4. Schererville PW does not pick-up branches cut by contractors or tree cutting services. When a “for hire” service or contractor is employed to trim or remove branches and/or trees, they are expected to take the waste piles, trimmings and branches with them for disposal.
5. Tree services working within the corporate limits of our community are required to be registered as contractors with the Planning & Building Department. This helps assure our residents that the contractors they are hiring carry the proper insurance coverages required by Town Ordinance.
6. Residents with frontage on both a subdivision street and on a main thoroughfare are required to leave branches on the lower volume subdivision street for pick-up. When branches are placed along the main thoroughfares for pick-up it is dangerous for our workers to safely perform their duties. We understand that there are many residents that live on main thoroughfares having no other option but to leave branch piles on the main streets and we will continue to provide service to these properties, however we will no longer expose our personnel to this additional risk when a safer option is available, that being the lower volume, lower speed limit subdivision street.

Other Branch & Leaf Pick-up Policies

• To be assured you get picked-up, have your branches and/or leaves in front of your residence by 7:00 AM on Monday morning of your designated week. The Public Works Department will go through each neighborhood only once during a given week. We do not have the resources to go back through an area because leaves and/or branches were not ready on the day we came.
• Branches and leaves are to be placed in the parkway (grassy area) between the sidewalk and street within 5 feet of the street. Our machines must be able to reach the items or we will not pick them up. If you do not have a parkway, place them behind the sidewalk or along side of the roadway.
• Please do not place leaves and branches in the street. This causes flooding in the streets when they wash down and plug up storm water inlets.
• Leaves and branches must be placed in separate piles or they will not be picked up. Two different types of machines are used. Branches plug up the leaf vacuums and leaf piles plug up and dull the branch chipper blades.
• Residences that have frontage on two roads (houses that face a low volume subdivision street and back up to a main thoroughfare such as 77th Ave.) are strongly encouraged to place leaves and branches on the low volume subdivision street. It is much safer for our crews to work on these streets than to tie up traffic on the main roads and will help keep pick-ups on schedule.
• Avoid placing leaves and branches in ditches and drainage swales. Again, this contributes to flooding issues should they wash downstream.
• Do not place leaves in containers or bags during regular pick-up schedule. Leaves must be loose for our machines to handle them.
• Leaf and branch piles will be picked-up only from residences that pay for trash services with the Town. Piles placed in front of vacant lots or businesses will not be collected.
• Residents are welcome to bring loaded items to the Town Dump, Monday through Friday, 7:00 AM until 3:00 PM. Please sign in at the office and our staff will direct you to the proper disposal area. During times that we are not active in loose leaf pick-up, a special pick-up may be requested by calling the office; however leaves must be bagged for our crews to be able to handle them.

GRASS CLIPPING DISPOSAL POLICIES AND PROCEDURES

• The Public Works Department encourages all residents to use a mulching type lawn mower to recycle grass clippings back into the soil from which they grew.
• Town crews will NOT pick-up GRASS CLIPPINGS. Grass clippings can be placed in plastic bags, paper bags, trash cans or other such containers and left out for the regular trash pick-up on your scheduled pick-up date. The Town’s scavenger service has 2 rules for grass clippings:
  • 1. The weight of a container must not exceed 40 pounds.
  • 2. They must be in a dry container that will not break if handled roughly. If paper bags have been rained upon, they lose their strength and break open when the collector tries to lift them into the trash hopper. The scavenger service employees will not attempt to lift them onto the truck when it is evident that they may break.

Winter Branch and Leaf Collection Policies

During the winter months of January, February, and March, it is necessary to tear down the Branch and Leaf Collection Trucks and rig them with snow plows and salt spreaders. Accordingly, we do not schedule regular pickups for branches and leaves during this period. Residents are welcome to bring loaded items Monday through Friday, 7am to 3pm. Please check in at the office and our staff will direct you to the proper disposal area.

During times that we are not active in loose leaf pick-up, a special pick-up may be requested by calling the office. Leaves must be bagged for our crews to handle them. We will also send a loader or 1-Ton dump truck out to pick up branch piles on an “as needed” basis. Again, residents will need to call the office to schedule a special wintertime pick up.