Green Bay and De Pere Leaf Trucks Collect Loose Piles From the Terrace Until Nov. 15, and Neither City Takes Bagged Leaves

Five days remain for Green Bay and De Pere residents to get leaves to the curb. Both cities collect loose piles from the terrace, the grassy strip between the sidewalk and the street, through Nov. 15, and neither one takes leaves that have been bagged.

Collection began Monday, Oct. 19. The rules below come from FOX 11’s fall cleanup guide, Green Bay’s own public works pages and the state Department of Natural Resources.

Loose Piles on the Terrace, Not in the Street

FOX 11 meteorologist Audrey Leigh reported on Oct. 13 that residents of both cities should rake leaves onto the terrace, keep them clear of mailboxes and other obstacles, and skip the bags.

Green Bay’s yard waste page sets the same boundary and adds the reason: material has to stay out of the street to comply with the city’s storm sewer permit. Material placed in the street can bring an invoice, while material on the terrace is not invoiced. The page gives Sunday, Nov. 15, 2026, as the deadline to put material to the curb.

Timing matters as much as placement. The public works guide asks residents not to put loose leaves out until one week before the published start of the season.

Why Bagged Leaves Stay Behind

The city’s 2026 public works guide says bagged yard waste will not be collected, even in recyclable bags. It asks residents to keep brush and leaves in separate piles.

The guide also warns that setting out yard waste incorrectly or out of season can bring a collection fee of at least $97, billed to the property owner. It gives two numbers for questions: (920) 448-3100 for the public works department and (920) 448-3535 for the street, sewer and sanitation operations division, and it says collection ends early if snow stays on the ground before the advertised end date. Collection continues through Thanksgiving week, weather permitting, but the department does not promise a set number of rounds.

What Leaves in the Street Do to Local Waterways

The terrace rule has a water-quality reason behind it. The Wisconsin Department of Natural Resources says in its stormwater guidance that leaves and yard waste should be kept out of the street, composted if possible, or piled on the terrace for city pickup, because leaves left in the street end up in the storm sewer when it rains.

A companion DNR page on stormwater problems lists leaves and grass among the urban sources of phosphorus, which feeds algae and aquatic plant growth. It says one pound of phosphorus can produce 300 to 500 pounds of algae. Leaves, grass clippings and other organic debris also use up oxygen as they decay, the page says, and once storm sewers carry that material into urban waterways, oxygen levels can drop enough to cause fish kills.

Debris in the Pile and How Many Passes the Trucks Make

The trucks vacuum the leaves, so anything hard in a pile is a problem. De Pere street superintendent Tony Fietzer told FOX 11 that residents should not mix concrete blocks or similar hard items into their piles, because bricks and other debris damage the vacuum equipment.

FOX 11 reported that some collected leaves go to local farmers and businesses and the rest are ground up and composted.

De Pere runs five leaf trucks. FOX 11 reported that the city typically completes six to seven full rounds each fall and collected 840 tons of leaves last year. Fietzer said the six to seven complete rounds are common in a fall.

Green Bay typically collects 50,000 to 60,000 cubic yards of leaves, FOX 11 reported, and crews usually need seven to 10 business days to cover the whole city. Operations director Richard Demo said the number of cycles crews finish is not set in advance. “It’s all dependent on weather,” he said.

Demo said the crews have to switch over all the equipment for snowplow operations, which pauses leaf collection until the snow melts. Green Bay’s yard waste page says its route status map is updated nightly, but it is not a set pickup time because weather, staffing and volume can change schedules.

Nearby Towns Follow Different Rules

Two neighbors share the Nov. 15 end date. FOX 11 lists Allouez and Kaukauna as collecting Oct. 19 to Nov. 15 as well, but both ask for leaves behind the curb rather than on a terrace, and Kaukauna wants piles within 4 feet of the edge. Allouez asks for no bags, grass or brush.

Beyond those two, the terms change from town to town. FOX 11’s roundup lists Appleton, for example, as taking loose leaves or paper bags only, with no plastic, through Nov. 20, while Ashwaubenon runs through Nov. 25 and Little Chute through Dec. 1. Several suburbs offer drop-off service only.

Green Bay residents who miss the curb deadline can take leaves and garden waste to the East Shore Drive or Hurlbut Street drop-off sites, according to the city’s yard waste page. Containers and bags are not accepted there either. Hours run daily from April 1 through Thanksgiving and move to weekends after that.

For how other cities handle bags, see this look at Greenwich’s rule against plastic-bagged leaves and this comparison of Oregon leaf pickup rules by city.

This article was produced with AI assistance and edited for accuracy against the sources linked above.

Image: Sheba_Also 43,000 photos – CC BY-SA 2.0/Wikimedia Commons