Jack Frost is headed this way and his arrival means Murfreesboro Streets Signs Department employees will be are preparing to make their annual collection of the fallen leaves that will result. Murfreesboro Streets and Signs Department Director Rick Templeton said.
When they begin falling, the director said, residents are asked to place loose leaves within 10 feet off the street so leaf vacuums can reach them, he said. For those who bag their own, they should be aware only biodegradable paper or plastic types will be accepted.

Residents are also asked to keep loose leaves separate from yard waste like brush and limbs because mixing them prevents vacuum collection.
Leaves the department collects are trucked to Murfreesboro’s mulch site on Florence Road, the director said. Residents may take them personally to the city’s mulch site at 4725 Florence Road as well.
Foliage has only barely begun to turn colors this year, Templeton said, so collections are sometime off yet.
“As soon as the leaves begin falling,” he said, “we’ll start picking them up.
That’s usually sometime in October, he explained.
“Depending on the weather, our season generally begins sometime in October,” Templeton said, “especially if it’s dry and turns off cool with an early frost. We want to get the word out as early as possible so residents can make any adjustments they need.”
Just how often collection crews will round the city will depend on how many and how fast leaves fall and how many residents bag or rake them to the street.
“We’ll be using four trucks and vacuums,” Templeton said. “Murfreesboro Solid Waste Department will help out when needed because they have the larger trucks and knucklebooms.”
Before more falling leaves push crews into routine routes, the director said, they will respond directly to individual residents who call the department at 893-4380.
The heavier part of the leaf collection season ends around Christmas time, the director said, though crews are still picking up bags of leaves on into the first or second week of January.
“Once things slow down some (from the heaviest part of the season),” he said, “we will go back to going to specific spots on a case-by-case basis until they are gone.”