CANFIELD — The city is continuing its leaf pickup effort and could keep it going well into December.

For the second year in a row, leaf pickup will continue — as long as leaves are piled along city streets.

“There is no end date this year,” Wade Calhoun, city manager said. “So, even if the snow falls, when we are not plowing, we will be picking up leaves.”

In past years, the city was under a contract with Buckeye Lawn Service, which handled roughly half of the city. The contract was for a specific start and stop date, which usually wrapped up on Thanksgiving weekend. That contract was for 2017, 2018 and 2019.

Calhoun said in 2020, the city took on the leaf program in its entirety.

“We did leaf collection 100 percent in house and did not utilize the services of a third-party contractor,” he said. “This saved the citizens of Canfield $40,000.”

Another factor affecting leaf pickup was the purchase of equipment.

Before 2020, the trucks had a homemade bin installed on the bed to capture the leaves. It took close to an eight-hour day to assemble or disassemble it on the trucks. That was devastating to the Public Works Department’s schedule when the trucks needed to be changed quickly for ice and snow removal.

For the 2020 season, the city purchased a new system for the city trucks that makes for a quick-change from leaf pickup to plowing and de-icing. It no longer took a day to switch over from leaves to snow and ice equipment. That allowed the crew to stay on leaves longer, giving residents what they had asked for.

Public Works Superintendent John Rapp said his crew has been out working hard to get the leaves this year and so far, has done a good job.

“We have exceeded 250 loads of leaves so far” as of Nov. 17, Rapp said.

The leaves are picked up from piles along the street and are taken to the Canfield Fairgrounds. From there, a third party vendor collects and grinds the leaves, recycling them into topsoil for resale and use.