Portland’s Leaf Day returns with 30K new addresses, PBOT says

PORTLAND, Ore. (KOIN) — Leaf Day is coming to Portland on Saturday, giving residents the opportunity to get rid of large piles of fall foliage.

The Portland Bureau of Transportation is laser-focused on using specialized street cleaning to prevent street flooding and road hazards sometimes caused by large piles of leaves.

Beginning on Nov. 1, certain zones of Portland will have leaf-removal services sweeping through their neighborhoods on certain days through mid-January.

This year, 30,000 new addresses have been added, in part thanks to additional funding from Portland City Council, PBOT said.

“The service will cover 82 zones, up from 53 zones of various size that historically had the service. New zones were added in each of the four City Council Districts,” PBOT said.

It represents one of the largest expansions of Leaf Day in the service’s 30-year history.

A map of every zone can also be found on this official Leaf Day map.

To participate in Leaf Day, the city requests residents to rake their leaves into the street one day before their scheduled pickup. The full schedule can be found here, and you can even sign up for reminders.

However, PBOT warns that you should only gather loose leaves, not other yard debris like twigs, branches, pinecones, etc. They also say to keep one foot of space between your pile and the curb for storm runoff.

On Leaf Day, vehicles are required to move from the street as it is being swept. Those who do not move their car could face an $85 citation for violating a temporary no-parking zone, plus tow fees.