Loose leaf collection resumes in Cambridge

After snow put an unexpectedly early stop to leaf collection in Cambridge, crews are back on the job. CTV’s Colton Wiens reports.

As the snow melts, it’s revealing some of the leftovers of last fall in the City of Cambridge.

City crews are busy cleaning up leaves that were left behind in the fall when snow blanketed the region.

“Typically, what happens is the first snowfall arrives and then the snow goes away,” Yogesh Shah, general manager of infrastructure services with the City of Cambridge said. “And we have some nice weather days so we can go back and resume the leaf pick up. That was not [the case in ] fall of 2025.”

Shah said the city typically doesn’t do loose leaf pickup during the spring, but if they don’t act now, there could be issues.

“The community would look not so beautiful. Which we are very proud of. That’s one part. These leaves end up on top of the storm grates and cause flooding issues. So, either residents or the city has to pick up the leaves and clear them out,” Shah said.

Shah said crews are now prioritizing areas that didn’t get loose leaf pickup in the fall and will respond to any other problem areas based on complaints.

“We continued in between the end of November. But again, with the heavy winter, we had to pause it completely,” Shah said.

The pickup is expected to take about two or three more weeks. Residents with extra leaves on their properties can rake them to the curb, bag them for pickup by the Region of Waterloo or let the leaves sit on their lawn either fully intact or mulched.

“[The leaves] encourage pollination and bees and whatnot. So that’s a much more natural way of dealing with leaves as opposed to having a three or four city crew which comes and picks up the way we are currently doing. It’s not a sustainable way. We’re doing it, but it’s not a sustainable way,” Shah said.

The cities of Kitchener and Waterloo both tell CTV News their respective leaf collection programs were completed in the fall and crews won’t be back out this spring.