With the leaves starting to accumulate, it might be tempting to rake them all up into a pile and then light yourself a nice little bonfire. But that would be a bad idea.
State regulations allow outside burning only between January 15 and May 1 each year, but even then you’re not allowed to burn leaves, grass, or hay.
So that means you’ll have to find other ways to get rid of all those leaves. The Transfer Station is one option. They accept leaves, brush up to 4-feet long and 4-inches thick, and grass clippings.
Leaves taken to the Transfer Station should be unbagged, and any ‘non-tree’ or ‘non-brush’ material — yard trash, gravel or stones, fill or loam — should be removed. For more details, see the Transfer Station’s recycling and trash guide (.pdf).
The other option — one I’m particularly interested in — is composting. You can learn more on the Massachusetts Department of Environmental Protection’s composting website.
While we’re on the subject, composting is something I’ve been wanting to do for a while now. Anyone out there have tips?
Thank you!
I love and support composting! Instead of carting away so many pounds of organic material from our property year after year, depleting the soil, we should USE our leaves and grass clippings! They have nutrients, help hold moisture and add valuable texture to the soil. One way is to run over the leaves with the mower to chop them up then store them through the winter under a tarp to be used in the spring for mulch! My work with the Garden in the Woods in Framingham involved just that: collect the leaves in the fall, store them – then in the spring, they get shredded to become valuable soil boosters mixed with a little organic fertilizer. Why truck it somewhere else?