Several ecological surveys have found that insect populations are rapidly declining, which includes beneficial insects found in many homeowner’s gardens and yards. Numerous beneficial insects such as butterflies, moths, and native bees found in residential yards depend on accumulated leaf litter to overwinter and complete their life cycle. Another beneficial insect, the firefly, a declining species especially in urban areas, may spend up to two years in the leaf litter as larva-eating slugs, and other pests that can cause damage to garden plants.

A simple way to help the beneficial insects in your yard is to leave the leaves. Leaves can be moved off the grass by raking, rather than using a leaf blower that can harm over wintering insects and their eggs. Leaves can be raked into planting areas and used as mulch or shredded by mowing with a mulching mower to return organic matter to the soil. The decomposing leaf litter returns valuable nutrients to the soil that benefits trees, shrubs, and turfgrass on your property.

By managing fallen leaves on your property, fewer leaves end up in landfills. Leaves that end up in a landfill break down anaerobically (no oxygen) which generates methane gas and contributes to greenhouse gas emissions. In addition, leaves managed in your yard reduce the need for leaf collection vehicles and subsequent transportation to a disposal site, thereby decreasing fuel consumption and greenhouse gas emissions from collection and transportation vehicles.

On-site composting is another method to utilize fall leaves. They can be helpful to absorb the moisture from kitchen food scraps when added to the compost pile, which will help to reduce potential odors emitted from the pile. Aerobic composting requires oxygen to enable the organisms decomposing the material to work effectively and limit unpleasant odor generation; remember to turn or loosen your compost pile to incorporate oxygen into the material.

If you find you have too many leaves to manage, the City provides curbside collection for excess leaves. Leaves collected in College Park and other neighboring jurisdictions are composted by the city at the nearby Public Works facility. Leaf compost is available for purchase for various gardening projects to use as a soil conditioner in planting areas.

Residents can stack leaves at the curb for collection; please do not place the leaves into the street. Leaves piled in the street for collection may find their way into nearby storm drains and lead to blockages in the storm water system that can contribute to neighborhood flooding. As leaves enter the storm water system, they make their way into streams and rivers which flow to the Chesapeake Bay. The decomposing leaves in the storm water system contributes to excess nutrients in the bay, which detrimentally affects the marine ecosystem.