Greensboro's 'Leave the Leaves' program lets rakers off the hook

For those who are tired of raking leaves, Greensboro officials have a message that may be music to your ears: Leave the Leaves. It’s part of the city’s educational initiative that encourages residents to consider environmentally friendly landscaping practices. 

Hauling around noisy gas-powered blowers, and stuffing piles of leaves into plastic bags is hard work — and hard on the environment. The carbon dioxide and nitrous oxide emissions warm the atmosphere; the roar of those engines approximates that of a passenger jet; and the sheer volume of yard waste can be a burden to municipal collections and composting operations. 

Shree Dorestant, Greensboro’s chief sustainability officer, helped launch the city’s Leave the Leaves initiative to educate residents on the many benefits of mulching or simply letting leaves compost in place.

"All of those nutrients there stimulate plant growth — especially for our native plants," says Dorestant. "And it’s like you’re thinking about an entire ecosystem where you have insects and that’s their habitat."

And if the temptation to rake is too great, Dorestant recommends moving leaves onto flower beds and tree bases to retain moisture, or onto sloped areas to help prevent soil erosion.