Too many leaves for your bin? Here's what to do

You either love this time of year: cool days, golden light, leaves to scuffle in, or you hate it: frost to scrape, short days and mounds and mounds of leaves to deal with. This fall’s yard clean up is looking a little different. This is the first year there will be no paper leaf bags lining the streets of Lynn Valley.The adoption of the lockable organics carts for yard waste by the District of North Vancouver has changed how you have to deal with fall leaves. Here are some tips to get through the fall gardening season.Gather leaves using yard waste bags – and place them INSIDE your organics cart. No bags will be picked up curbside by the DNV.

• Use old garbage cans to gather leaves around your yard and dump them in your organics cart.

• If your cart is full, you can store leaves until your next collection in your old garbage cans or leaf bags. Add leaves to gardens as mulch.

• Consider mowing your leaves – move your mower blade to the highest setting and the leaves will be chopped finely and spread over your lawn. Eventually it will be absorbed as compost. Alternatively if your mower has a catch it will gather the some of the leaves for you to dump in your cart.

“Residents may request a second 240L organics cart at no direct cost, if they require additional capacity,” said Stephanie Smiley, communications manager for the District of North Vancouver. “Subsequent organics carts are available for approximately $40/year. Information is available on our website (dnv.org/carts) under the Questions about garbage and organics limits section at the bottom of the page below the map.”Just a reminder that this is also the time to do the neighbourly (and smart!) thing and remove leaves from your nearby storm drains. No one wants a repeat of the floods from a few years back!