The photo below shows the ingenious contraption created by one of our Village Administrators, Fred (seen on the left). He built a box out of plywood and chain link for the back of the Village truck. He then repurposed a blower to become the vacuum so they could pick up the leaves from our streets before they could clog the sewer drains.

I ended up doing some research for the Village Council on the viability of composting the leaves on a village-wide basis. Though it seems like a very doable project, I'm guessing there isn't enough money/time for the training to get the EPA-approved site up and running at this point. Still... I have hope!