2010 Leaf Pickup Survey

Linn County Public Health

Air Quality Branch

Table of Contents

 Results Memo
 Survey Comments
 Distribution Map
 Air Quality Memo

To: Board of Supervisors

From: Shane Dodge, Manager – Air Quality Branch
Date: September 27, 2010

Subject: 2010 Leaf Pickup Survey Results

The Air Quality Branch completed its analysis of the 2010 Leaf Pickup Survey and offers
the following summary of the results.

The survey was mailed to 1,787 residents impacted by the expanded “no burn” area on
September 15, 2010. Other impacted residents within the incorporated areas of Robbins
and Fairfax were excluded because these cities have arranged for leaf collection service
either through the City of Cedar Rapids or a third-party contactor.

As of 1200 hrs on September 24, 2010, a total of 644 surveys had been returned and
entered into the survey database for analysis. A large majority of the respondents (75%)
are not interested in leaf collection service. When you compare the number of residents
that are interested in leaf collection to the total survey population only 9% have expressed
interest in curbside or roll-off service, with curbside being the most preferred service. A
complete breakdown of the results is provided in the tables below.

The estimated cost to have the survey cards printed and mailed, including return postage,
was $1,258. Labor associated with this project was approximately 14 hours, which
included survey development, negotiating the mailing services, database development,
data entry and results analysis.
Survey Participation 2010 Leaf Pickup Survey
Total Survey Population 1,787
Returned Surveys 644 Yes
9%
Participation 36%
No
Q1: Service Type Yes No Total 27%
DNR
Curbside only 68 - 64%
Roll-off only 12 -
644
Either service 80 -
No service to either - 484

1 2 3
Q2: # of Service Curbside Pickup
10 56 104

Q3: Preferred Sep Oct Nov Curbside

Month 23 152 122 Yes
23%

Min Max Avg

Q4: Cost/Service Curbside No
$2 $150 $19 77%
Only 92 respondents provided a reasonable cost
 Leaf Pickup Survey Comments
Comment

We have few trees and mulch our grass. We don't need this service, but city dwellers might want it.

I till mine into garden.

This neighborhood does not need leaf disposal.

I have an open area of 3 acres, so a leaf pickup would not be practicle. Thank you though.

No interest in this service.

I grind my leaves and compost them.

We mulch them back on the lawn.

The burn ban is for the benefit of city residents. Therefore, they should cover the cost of leaf pickup.

Never

We have an urgent Public Health concern. Linn Co. Secondary Rds Dept. has torn up about 500 ft of rock-chip sealed
road in front of our house, replacing it with untreated crushed rock. There has been no response to our requests for
information. No calls returned!

Roll off container would not hold enough. If we can't burn, this would have to be a requried service!

Let me burn the leaves.

We have neighbors that burn on the weekends and we can not have our windows open because of the smoke. NO
service. NO additional taxes please.

Not necessary.

We have an acreage lot, the container would need to handle 20-30 bushel per week.

FIX YOUR ROADS. NO MORE EXPENSE. NONE.

Not interested in leaf removal, but would be interested in other yard waste (grass, weeds, shrubs, tree limbs) removed.

Only interested if a free service with a cart I'd be happy to buy.

Not interested in additional cost from another government entity.

not needed

Not Interested.

We have probably 100 lawn and leaf bags with leaves. One container wouldn't really be significant enough to help with
removal.

The reasonable cost would equal the amount it takes me to pile them up and burn them - returning it to the soil!

Thanks for asking.

Monday, September 27, 2010 10:44 AM

 Leaf Pickup Survey Comments
Comment

Please consider other yard waste - branches, twigs, nuts - which I used to burn. Leaves can be mulched. A single "roll
off" would not hold my leaves.

COMPOST! The way of nature.

This is 1 acre with MANY trees, I would need 20 CARTS!! A vacuum truck would be great!

Have already made alternative arrangements.

Suggest residents use "mulching" blades on their lawnmowers and put leaves back into soil naturally.

We have 4 1/2 acres - I blow leaves in my back ravines on my property

We don't need this because we can dispose of our leaves on our wooded property.

No interest in any leaf disposal.

I pay $5.00 a truck load at the landfill and make one trip in the fall.

Fall leaves are easily burned in my area. Spend money on paving road, not collecting leaves.

I don't feel this service is necessary at this time. Thank you.

Not reasonable service for our 1.66 acres. Too many trees.

My property has few trees so service is not necessary.

We don't need these services.

Curb side pickup of yard waste bags would be great!

We have ditches surrounding our property - can crubside be done? If so, would like curbside during Fall.

I haul my own garbage, recycle and brush to landfill. Maybe a free drop off day!

NO THANKS!

fix out flood problem on Alburnett road first!

Don't need this. Another wast of money.

Too many leaves, would need many pickups.

We have no need for this service.

No service needed.

It would be impossible to put leaves from 1 acre in a container. Considering the "repair" Linn County did on our street it
is likewise impossible for the leaves to be collected from the street itself. The "pollution" created by dry burning leaves is
so minimal we, as many in our area, prefer to burn!

Why are you wasting time and resources on this?

Monday, September 27, 2010 10:44 AM

 Leaf Pickup Survey Comments
Comment

I use my own leaves. Don't need help.

I have my own leaf mulcher.

No desire for leaf pickup.

Provide free drop off at landfill. Win-Win, low cost.

Too many leaves.

I am a bit offended that you take away our ability to burn leaves and then charge us to take them away. But you don't
leave much choice.

Should have asked before the burn ban!!

Since we can no longer burn leaves or branches, we would like to be able to haul them to landfill or other site at no
charge like Marion City residents can.

As a county resident, NOT city, we should be able to burn our leaves like we USED to. Our neighborhood is being
treated as if we live in the city on this subject. Allow us 2 weekends to burn, problem solved!

Not interested, I compost all yard waste.

Too many county residents to be concerned with disposal of yard waste. Still want to burn yard waste, one simple
freedom of living in county. Save your money, spend your time on something else.

We compost. Thanks anyway.

My leaves are currently recycled in a farmers field to be plowed under.

I do not want this service.

The enormous amount of leaves from our 20 mature trees (and those of our neighbors) would be too much, too costly,
for container collection. We haul away a big trailer full EACH WEEK. Please consider reinstating yard waste burning.

Let us burn!!

I will vote against any elected official who promotes a tax or mandatory fee for this service.

A reasonable cost per service depends on what the service actually is. How big are the roll off containers? Can we put
other yard waste (like tree branches in them?) $100 for a whole season including branch pickup is ok.

This would be a very helpful service. Not sure on cost.

We do not need this service.

Our lawn care service already removes our leaves for us. Thanks anyway.

The burning ban for us is mostly a problem for getting rid of brush, tree trimmings, etc. There is no convenient way to do
that. What leaves we get, we grind up with the mower.

We mulch all our leaves.

Monday, September 27, 2010 10:44 AM

 Leaf Pickup Survey Comments
Comment

I use all my leaves for compost.

I mow my leaves-no need to remove them. I think they somehow disappear into the soil.

Very necessary service! Personal cost now $250 per service.

No Thanks!!

Quit spending our tax money on these kind of things.

Options not practical for our location. Prefer less muddy access to landfill. Some neighbors continue to burn and others
use fire pits to burn.

Leaves get tilled into the garden.

We have a ditch in front of our house. Can't put leaves in drainage ditch. We do have a long driveway - could we place
leaves there?

no need for us - we mulch them

Do not need.

I recycle in my garden.

One container 1-3 times per season would not nearly be enough to collect all of our leaves.

You took away our ability to burn - don't feel we should pay - part of our taxes we pay should pay for this.

We have been left with no options of disposing of yard waste so we do need this!

How about a collection container like what Cedar Rapids residents use.

Use paper leaf bags with a limit of 10 bags per household.

Please DO NOT spend one penny of tax revenue on this! Thanks!

We compost our leaves and garbage.

Do NOT want this service. Do NOT want to pay for an wanted service.

Limbs are problem not leaves. We live on the CR line, but in Linn Co. Why no burning? Farm fields surround us?

We compost our leaves.

I compost our leafs

We use a mulching mower deck on our riding mower. Don't have large piles to rake by using our mower.

We are a wooded development. We put our leaves in the woods.

No - we have about 2 acres of trees! We spread leaves in the woods.

All my leaves to into my ravine, but thanks for the survey.

Monday, September 27, 2010 10:44 AM

 Leaf Pickup Survey Comments
Comment

This property is in a wooded area - we simply blow the leaves into the woods. Let them decompose - seems simpler
than hauling them all the way to curb. Thanks!

I DON'T THINK LINN COUNTY NEEDS TO BE IN THE LEAF REMOVAL BUSINESS!

Brush, tree trimming pick up is desired.

Why would I pay anything? I can just compost all on my property. Just say NO to big government.

Service not needed.

I don't have a good place to store a "roll off container" when it is not being used.

NO NEED FOR LEAF DISPOSAL.

Couple of times or available thru spring and summer for pruning of trees and bushes material.

Provide multiple drop points around the county such that Bluestem-County Home isn't the only place to take leaves &
yard waste, and make it free to drop off.

I compost my leaves. It's the tree limbs that I'd like to burn or have hauled away.

I have 30 trees, so many leaves. Getting them to curb is hassle so cart would need to be large.

Good idea since you banned burning in the county by CR. Also, consider compost service like Marion.

You didn't ask for input when eliminating leaf burning, so I doubt you'll pay any attention to this survey!

Currently compost.

I compost leaves at my home. Don't need a pickup service.

We are currently paying $54 per quarter for our garbage pick up and recycling without leaf pickup. I am very interested
in pick up service, however, I would prefer grass cutting & regular recycle pick up throughout the summer and fall
season as I have extensive gardens & would be willing to pay exta for having this service.

Composting in the county.

Not interested, thank you.

No thank you.

I would be interested in service for other yard waste in addition to leaves; ie: garden plants, bush trimmings.

Can this be other yard waste like evergreen trimmings?

This is not practical for large lots. We need to allow open burn a couple times a year. If CA can burn down their state
every year, we can have a couple mini burns.

We can take care of our leaves ourselves.

No more than Robins pays!

Monday, September 27, 2010 10:44 AM

 Leaf Pickup Survey Comments
Comment

I would be interested in year round yardy service for yard waste.

Not enough leaves to justify for us.

We use a compost pile, collection not needed.

FREE

We compost. This is a waste of tax dollars.

Would appreciate the county focusing on existing roads. Mow ditches, paint center lines.

Burn

Yardy type containers won't work for volume of leaves in the county.

I would not be interested if there were a charge.

See "Hot" letter attached.

I do NOT wat this if there is a charge should have the option. Tax $'s should not be put on us!

It would be more cost effective to lift the burn restriction for a month in the fall.

We have no need for this service.

We chop them with our lawn mower and put them back on the ground.

Get back with me.

We live in a wooded area and compost leaves.

We use leaves for garden mulch.

Leaf pickup takes several weeks and dozens of large bags. We don't have curbs.

2 acres of 40+ trees predominately oak- rarely burned in past- (leaves) sticks yes - presently we compost our (all)
leaves - chippen on site. Please clean up my neighbor at 5511 Hickorywood.

Just give us 2 weeks that we can burn leaves and sticks!!

Give back our right to burn! Why give in to a C.R. policy. We are in the county and should have own rules. Have a
backbone!

We compost all of our leaves and use them in the gardens.

A roll off container would depend on the size. Could sticks be included?

I mulch leaves and compost kitchen material.

I am happy with my independent service.

Not interested, thank you.

Monday, September 27, 2010 10:44 AM

 Leaf Pickup Survey Comments
Comment

I would really appreciate having this service available.

Us who live outside city limits, let us burn for 3 months out of the year.

No "curb" only ditches, and no where to put the roll off container, it would block driveway.

Would desire a vacuum truck. Roll off container would double our labor. Suggest push leaves to ditch, pick-up with
vacuum truck.

Why wasn't this thought of before the rule was enacted? This is another example of where industry over rules the
citizens of the county.

Since I can no longer burn I had a local business come out 3 times last year to vacuum leafs from ditch. I could fill up
40-50 roll off containers, so this won't work.

Too late. Should have done this when section 10.10 regulation was being implemented in 2008. I cut down a lot of
trees.

This would be great for leaves since we no longer can burn. It cost us hundreds last year to have leaves removed.

None of the above. I would be intersted in reinstituting the right to burn leaves!

"Time" after most leaves have fallen for pick up.

No need for this service at all.

If we could burn them in the winter when windows are closed this would eliminate the whole problem.

I cannot comment on price due to limited information onsize. I OBJECT TO NOT BEING ABLE TO BURN ON MY
OWN PROPERTY!! Quit taking away my rights.

I don't believe in burning leaves. I have always composted leaves and weeds.

LET US BURN!!

We have more leaves than would be reasonable to collect. We normally spread them out in the woods.

way too many leaves to collect curbside

NO.

I have no curb, but think we should pursue this service.

It would be ok if it is available at a fee JUST for those who want it.

We live in the woods. Any leaves on our lawn are put in the woods.

Being on fringe of CR, I put my leaves on the curb-the city picks up.

Considering we have approximately 100 trees, this would not work for us.

For the amount we pay in taxes we get darn few services, road maintenance is about all. With about 20 trees it would
take dump trucks to haul mine away.

Monday, September 27, 2010 10:44 AM

 Leaf Pickup Survey Comments
Comment

I mulch all my leaves.

Perhaps a roll off that we could fill every week. Depends on the price.

It is hard to have to pay for something we used to take care of for free.

You are wasting my time. I have NO interest.

Don't need this at all.

One container is to small to help with our 3 acres.

Waste of money.

Not practical, have 30 - 100 bags of mulched leaves per week.

City pick up for me and have no need for any other.

We are on city pick up and need no extra containers.

We mostly have evergreen trees and we compost any leaves we have. Starting educational programs for composting
leaves would be beneficial to all. :)

God put the leaves here, he can collect them.

We do not need leaf disposal-we rake our leaves down our reveen

I use my leaves for mulching under my trees.

We have an acre lot, would need the leaf vacuum for pickup. Cart would not be big enough.

We would need about 15 roll off carts. Would be better to have vacuum truck. What about sticks, branches, trimming?

We have approximately 50 mature trees plus 10 younger trees in the orchard. We usually have 165-200 lawn-broom
loads each year. Raking into the road side ditch is the only way to handle this many leaves. Bagging leaves is
impossible.

Put in front ditch and you vacuum up.

I mulch with mower and leave for lawn fertilizer.

Would not use.

Can we include Grass trimmings? 378-5996

Your equipment goes right past my property - should be easy to incorporate our neighborhood into schedule. Would
appreciate stick and limb pick up as well. Thank you for this consideration. Would use container, if vacuum not possible

I don't have curbs, but would like to use ditch.

Have an acre lot with lots of trees. Container would do no good. Not much of "curb" area but would *APPRECIATE*
collection!!

Monday, September 27, 2010 10:44 AM

 Leaf Pickup Survey Comments
Comment

Robins is paying $9 per household.

Roll off container would need to be large to hold all the leaves from my yard.

Probably would not want the service if there was a charge.

I would like to sweep leafs and put them along road in a row.

At the current time I have a chipper-vac, but should that quit I would be very interested.

Not so interested in leaves, but GARDEN DEBRIS haul away would be beneficial. (old vines, flowers, etc.)

I don't need this service.

We blow leaves to a native area at the back of our lot.

My leaves go into the ravine.

Only interested in free, or I will haul.

We mulch the leaves with our garden tractor lawn mower.

I compost every leaf I can. Leaves are resources, not waste. Encourage people to use them.

You took our right to burn our leaves, now you want to make $$$. No thank you, I like being in the county, not the city.

This is a private lane. We have our own garbage and snow service. No leaf problems, rake into woods.

It depends on the cost.

Leaves can be mulched- I have 2 acres -The problem is wood-debris in county ditches. Allow ditch wood burning or
county picks up or mulches! Leaves need to be mowed into lawn-save co. $

Need roll off container picked up once a month for tree branches.

Since burning has been banned an inexpensive alternative should be provided.

Is this first for leaves? Or can garden clean up and brush also be picked up?

We mulch our leaves so that it provides nutrients for the soil.

Used to be free at landfill if you took it out there. Now you can't burn them. What about grass clippings throughout
summer? Being a senior on limited income, cost too much here as is!! We are not all rich!!

I would only want this service if my taxes do not go up!! You will need to cut something else!!

Can't afford add'l fees!

We are new so the answers are only a guess based on our # of trees.

no leaf pickup necessary

Not interested.

Monday, September 27, 2010 10:44 AM

 Leaf Pickup Survey Comments
Comment

HELL NO! Actual cost borne by those who choose to use the service. It should not be sponsored by government. Let
private sector do this.

Minimal fee

Not needed. Not interested.

Too many leaves, it would take many, many roll off containers.

This service is unnecessary in our subdivision.

Allow us that live in zoned county to obtain a burn permit.

I have wooden area back of property that I dispose of leaves, etc. Do not need service.

I do NOT want this service.

I have enough room to pile and let it compost.

We cut 8 trees and were granted a permit that was later revoked. How should we get rid of burn piles?

No thanks!

No, I live in the woods so leaf removal goes into the woods.

I have 5 acres of trees, perference is burning.

We have over two acres of woods. A roll off container would not even make a dent.

We live in the woods and just push them downhill. How about a mulching service to mulch sticks at our home?

We live in the woods. We just dump our leaves there.

Unless they are going to rake them for me, not interested.

We live in the woods. No need.

No, this would be a waste of time, money, and natural resources. Encourage composting. Money and big government
is not the solution.

Already have curbside collection on Sylvan Lane. Encourage mulching and burning.

No need with yardie pick up thru fall.

This is the first year we can't get a burn permit. Too close to city line, so maybe would consider this. But containers
really to small for 1 acre lot of trees. The vacuum might be better.

Thank you for considering leaf pickup for us.

Have the fee high enough to cover the service.

I don't need, nore do I expect the county to provide these services.

Monday, September 27, 2010 10:44 AM

 Leaf Pickup Survey Comments
Comment

Thanks but no thanks.

Not necessary in county - costly.

The city services my house for yard waste now.

Leaves only? How about other yard waste, like branches a problem when we can't burn anymore.

Zeman Dr. has 8 parcels. Only 2 use garbage pick up. Only 2 owners rake their leaves. We take care of disposal of
them. No need for any of these services at this time. (1 lot vacant, 1 lot vacant for several years- we also own 4293.)

Not interested!

I am moving out of state.

I am 89 years old and have 55 trees on my property, mostly large oaks. What do you suggest? I have no curb, I live on
a gravel road.

The road to our house is in rough shape. Who ever sealed the road 2 years ago did a poor job!! Craig Gossard 364-
4770.

Don't need anything from government.

Our leaves need to be vacuumed out of our ditch.

I have many tarps of leaves. Currently we mulch, as much as we can, and burn the remainder, or dump them. Is there
a possibility the city can use the city vacuum?

It would really depend on cost $, whether I would use this. Thank you.

We have so many leaves that we would really like the county to rent the leaf vacuums from the city. We have a ditch
between us & the street. But anything you can do would be appreciated.

We live on a narrow lane. "Vacuum" curbside service would not work very well.

We're in a rural area and don't rake many leaves. This service wouldn't apply for us. Thanks.

Since leaves are organic, biodegradable, and natural to the environment, we ought to use them as the natural resource
that they are. Each land owner has the responsibility to purpose leaves as their funcion requires.

You've Got to be Kidding

Our block has a ditch by the road so curbside won't work. I pay $4.00 for garbage. I wouldn't expect to pay more than
that for leaves.

Would be happy to pay a reasonable cost.

Service not needed.

I compost leaves.

One yardy wouldn't even begin to be enough; 3 times would not suffice.

Monday, September 27, 2010 10:44 AM

 Leaf Pickup Survey Comments
Comment

We compost.

We are able to dispose of our leaves ourselves.

NO THANKS! PS: Fix my road.

The service we have now is fine. Stop spending money on this stuff - printing, postage, etc.

What about brush, tree limbs, etc.? We have an acreage with many trees. Always have debris from wind, dying trees
etc. Used to burn, now we can't!!

Since the county prohibited open burning to a small percentage of residents, the county should provide the alternative
for yard waste disposal.

This idea is a waste of government time and money. Compost!!

We compost our leaves on-site and we are happy to continue doing so.

Do not want this service!

It would depend on the cost. Is there any estimate of what that might be?

Not interested. I don't rake leaves.

DO NOT NEED THIS SERVICE.

We live on an acreage. We don't even rake our leaves.

Just moved here and are not sure. Maybe yes if we were in town.

Don’t; want it.

We own 1.4 acres since '71 with 16 mature trees and various bushes, flowers, garden. A container would be filled
many, many times. Used to be able to get burn permit year round not only 3 months. What about downed branches
from winds?

We have a lot of leaves. Would love to rake into ditch and have them swept up from there.

Not interested - we compost our leaves.

We live in the woods, a perfect disposal site for our leaves.

Our driveway is about a 1/4 if a mile from the nearest curb. We are surrounded by forest preserve. This would not be
feasible for us.

Too many leaves to be practical.

I compost all leaves, etc

I have some 30 trees on 2 acres. Do you think there are enough containers to hold all those leaves? Not in a million
years! Not a service I can afford, nor want to pay for with tax dollars.

I hope if this came to be you would ONLY BILL those wanting it. Encourage composting.

Monday, September 27, 2010 10:44 AM

 Leaf Pickup Survey Comments
Comment

We have no need for that type of service. Thank you.

This is NOT an area LCS should be utilizing resources. Lets fix our roads!

I live on an acre with nearly 100 trees!!

I have too many leaves for this service.

We do NOT need leaf pickup.

We do not need leaf pick up.

Not interested.

we compost

We hava a steep ditch, which means we would have to rake down then up to road!

This service is not needed.

We compost our leaves.

Definitley not interested. NO THANKYOU!!

I mulch my leaves on the ground and let them rot in place.

What size roll off container? Lot size is bigger than 1 acre with many trees.

we now dispose of our leaves by mulching

It would be more work for me to get to curb than my compost pile.

Living on an acreage with no burn allowed. This would be very helpful. Also, I need help with grass clippings and other
yard waste.

We mulch our leaves.

Don't need this service.

We mulch our leaves

Does this include branches, etc.?

We don't have that many trees, the lawn mower mulches them.

Year round yardy service for weed and sticks would work also grass clipping. $5.00 per week.

Need some way to pick up the leaves to put them in the container.

How long would we keep the container? What size is the container? I would have about 28 cu.ft of leafs.

I mulch all leaves for compost and garden.

Monday, September 27, 2010 10:44 AM

 Leaf Pickup Survey Comments
Comment

We have a lawn service.

We have a burn law. Recreational and special permit burning should be banned also.

I could not be less interested in paying for leaf collection. I mulch them back into the lawn.

It would be great to have the service in the spring also to dispose of yard waste from winter.

I would not use this service.

Would be more interested in a year-round yardie to pick up yard waste.

Monday, September 27, 2010 10:44 AM