Mechanical Leaf Collection

You can help the City to clear the leaves by raking leaves that have accumulated in ditches and on the public allowance to the edge of the roadway no more than few days before your street’s mechanical leaf collection period begins. Do not rake leaves onto sidewalks, the travelled portion of the roadway or place leaves in ditches, on top of catch basins or obstruct water flow in any way.

If you see City crews in your area a few days earlier than scheduled, they are just getting an early start on the collection in your area and will return during the scheduled period. City crews can only collect the leaves that have fallen at the time of your scheduled collection dates. Leaf collection may occur any time during the scheduled 2 week period. If we get snow accumulation, this will impact the City’s ability to run the program.

Raking, blowing, placing or dumping leaves onto the sidewalk, ditches or roadway can create dangerous conditions for pedestrians, cyclists, motorists, create flooding conditions on the road way and could delay emergency services. Raking leaves onto sidewalks and the roadway is an offence under the City of Toronto Streets and Sidewalks by-law Chapter #743 (section 9) and could result in a $200 fine. City bylaw of­ficers will be enforcing the bylaw.

Your street will be cleared once during the program period. After your street has been cleared by the City, you can maintain the public allowance by collecting and disposing of leaves with your regular yard waste collection. Please place leaves in reusable, rigid, open-top containers or kraft paper bags on your regular yard waste collection day.

The city recommends, whenever possible, composting at home. It is the best solution for managing your leaves. Composting provides a rich, nutrient-filled material for your lawns and gardens. If you’d like a composter or require more information about composting, see www.toronto.ca/compost.