Fall cleanup and leaf removal in South Portland, Maine.
South Portland collects leaves at the curb once a year. The city's public works department runs the pickup, typically in November, and takes leaves only in biodegradable paper bags, no plastic. Its truck grabs bags with what the city calls giant salad tongs, so bags grouped together at the curb go faster than a long line of them. Anything that misses that week goes to the Transfer Facility at 929 Highland Avenue.
Where the debris goes
Residents with a transfer station sticker can bring leaves and grass clippings to Highland Avenue at no charge, while woody brush up to six inches in diameter carries a fee. The facility opens Tuesday through Saturday, 8:00 a.m. to 3:30 p.m., with extra Sunday hours in May and November, the two cleanup months. Landscape contractors need a paid annual landscaper permit, and it covers only debris from South Portland residential properties. Yard waste is not allowed in curbside trash or recycling carts.
Dumping leaves at the edge of a brook is a real problem here. The comprehensive plan lists yard waste dumping among the threats to Trout Brook, which already fails to support the stream life a Class C stream should. Trout Brook starts in Cape Elizabeth, enters South Portland at Sawyer Marsh and drains about 0.9 square miles of the city, much of it dense residential streets where a pile of leaves at the edge of a back yard can end up in the brook after the next hard rain.
What a full fall cleanup covers
We rake and blow leaves off turf and out of beds, cut back spent perennials, do the last mow of the season and haul the debris. Leaves left on a small lawn through a South Portland winter mat down over wet ground and kill grass in patches, and on the silt loam soils common in the city, the lawn underneath stays soggy late into spring.
Timing also matters for the street. The city's overnight parking ban runs from December 1 to April 1, midnight to 6 a.m., so cars move into driveways in December. Finishing the cleanup before then keeps bags and piles out of the way of plows and parked cars. Paper bags left out after the city pickup has passed also tend to soak through and split once the late-fall rain arrives.
Fall Lawn Care · Leaves · Final Mow
How we handle fall cleanup & leaf removal
Oak and maple leaves left on a Maine lawn all winter kill grass in patches. We rake and blow leaves off turf and out of beds, cut back spent perennials, do the last mow of the season and haul the debris.
See the full fall cleanup & leaf removal service page or everything we do in South Portland, Maine.
Fall Cleanup & Leaf Removal in nearby towns
- Fall Cleanup & Leaf Removal in Portland
- Fall Cleanup & Leaf Removal in Cape Elizabeth
- Fall Cleanup & Leaf Removal in Scarborough
- Fall Cleanup & Leaf Removal in Falmouth
- Fall Cleanup & Leaf Removal in Westbrook
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Mon–Sat 7:00am – 5:00pm · Based in Cumberland, Maine