ALPENA — The City of Alpena will begin phasing in some changes to its residential bagged lawn waste

program this season. Beginning in 2025, residents will be encouraged to utilize compostable

lawn waste bags to dispose of their lawn waste. The use of the bags brings multiple benefits to

the City’s composting program which include being less labor intensive, eliminating landfilling

the black plastic bags, and speeds up the composting process. The most common brown paper

composting lawn bags are locally available at several retailers. Beginning in 2026, the

composting bags will be required for lawn waste to be picked up curbside.

For clarity of the overall program, the following procedure has been established:

• All bagged lawn waste material and brush shall be placed on the curbline by 6 a.m. on Monday (June 9). Any material placed at the curb after 6 a.m. on Monday will not be collected. Material shall not be placed more than 48 hours in advance of Monday morning.

• Bagged lawn waste material and brush pickup is for residential properties only.

• Please remember that brush and bags may sit in front of your house for multiple days before

being collected.

• Bagged lawn waste shall contain lawn waste only. No soil, bushes or household waste will

be accepted.

• All brush shall be stacked with the cut edge facing the street.

• All brush piles shall be no longer than 6 feet by 6 feet. For reference, this would be a pile not

larger than a standard size couch or three sections of standard size sidewalk sections about

waist high.

• Brush piles and bagged material should be piled and will be picked up separately.

In the event that a pile has not been removed for any of the above reasons, City employees will

place a door hanger at the residence explaining the reasoning. Any materials left within the

right of way shall be removed within seven days to prevent code enforcement involvement.

The Public Works Service Center, located at 1001 Long Lake Avenue, is open daily from 7 a.m. to 3 p.m. Monday

through Friday, for drop-off of lawn materials for City residents only.

The Public Works Service Center will also be open from 8 a.m. to 2 p.m. on Saturdays and Sundays for drop off of lawn materials through October. Brush drop-off is not permitted at the Public Works Service Center.

All bagged lawn material shall be deposited where directed by the on-site signage and Public

Works employees. Bagged material shall be emptied from non-compostable bag as directed and

a trash receptacle will be available for disposal of bags.