Spring Yard Clean Up Efforts Among Some Lakeshore Communities

UNDATED (WHTC-AM/FM, Mar. 19, 2022) – As the seasons change this week, it’s time for some local municipalities to hold their annual spring clean up sessions.

In Holland, the annual Spring Clean-Up program began on March 12^th and runs through April 3^rd. Several guidelines are in place:

• Residents may rake yard clippings, shrub trimmings, and wind-blown twigs and small branches into the curb or road shoulders for pickup by City Street Department Crews.

• Heavy limbs, stumps, garbage and refuse in bags will not be removed and must be disposed of by other means.

• Please note that refuse piles left in yard areas cannot be picked up due to the potential damage to yards, sprinklers systems, or landscaping by the trucks and equipment used in the program. The Streets Division asks that refuse piles not be placed near utility poles, guy wires, fire hydrants, mailboxes or other obstructions that would prevent their equipment from accessing your leaf pile.

• As with snow removal, refuse piles may only be left on your own property, not the property of another, per Ordinance Sec. 19-7.

• Residents with a storm drain near their home must take special precautions to not stack debris on top of, or near, storm structures. This could lead to drains backing up, cause puddling near your home and leaves that enter the storm system pollute our waterways.

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In Saugatuck, the first brush and leaf pick-up is scheduled for Tuesday, March 22^nd, for those who live east of the Kalamazoo River, and Wednesday, March 23^rd, for those who live west of that tributary. Several guidelines are in place:

• Brush and leaves must be placed out the day prior to your scheduled pick-up date but no sooner than the Friday before your scheduled pick-up date.
• The Saugatuck Public Works Department cannot accommodate the removal of tree limbs or brush longer than four feet.
• Brush and leave piles must not be excessive in height or width. Please keep piles no higher than four feet.
• Please stack all limbs in the same direction to allow city equipment to facilitate removal.
• Leaves must be un-bagged, uncovered and separated from tree limbs and brush.
• Place brush and leaves along the curb or shoulder area in front of your own property. You must prevent debris from entering or blocking city storm drains.
• Please do not obstruct traffic flow by placing debris into the normal driving lane of City streets.
• Due to State regulations, the City is not authorized to dispose of residential grass clippings. Please do not place grass clippings in the street or City rights-of-way. Mulching your grass clippings is recommended.

• If you plan to combine removal of brush and leaves with your neighbor, please follow all the guidelines listed above.

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The City of Zeeland’s Annual Spring Curbside Clean-Up isn’t until next month, from April 13^th through April 18^th. City residents may place tree branches, twigs and shrub debris only in the street curb beginning on April 4^th. No leaves, grass or other garden clippings should be place out for pick up, and tree branches are to be only four feet or smaller. The city’s Annual Disposal Day at the Autumn Hills Recycling and Disposal Facility on 56^th Avenue east of Zeeland is on April 23^rd, and the Riley Street Brush Drop-Off Site reopens for the season on that same April 23^rd date.

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For more on all of these guidelines, call 616-928-2400 in Holland, click here for Saugatuck, and call 616-772-0870 in Zeeland.