Autumn leaf fall at peak pace, bringing cleaning brigades on to Tallinn's streets
Much of the golden autumn splendor that recently adorned Tallinn's treetops is now a carpet of leaves covering the ground, meaning leaf blowing is at full steam in the capital.
City authorities have asked for understanding from Tallinn-dwellers about any noise pollution which the leaf cleaning, which often takes place late at night or early in the morning, can bring at this time of year.
Following fairly breezy weather of late, rakes and bags are out in the city's streets, parks and public spaces, alongside leaf blowers, both the larger, four-wheeled noisy kind and the quieter battery-powered hand-held variety.
And almost as soon as the first leaf fall is cleared up, a successive wave of leaves carpets the ground once again.
"There's just as much work as in previous years, and roughly the same amount of leaves on the trees. It's just that this year, the leaf fall started earlier — last year we had a long warm autumn, and the leaves didn't want to fall at all," said Erkki Vaheoja, head of department at Tallinn's municipal engineering services department.
"Here in the Politseiaed park, where we are right now, today marks the start of the third cleaning round. The leaves keep on falling, so we keep having to collect them," said Aigar Palsner, head of the Tallinn Kesklinn (City Center) environmental department.
City residents' opinions are divided on the practice of clearing up all the leaves, as soon as they are off the trees.
"There are also complaints asking why we even need to clean them up — why not just leave them on the ground as good nutrients for the lawn. But it doesn't really work that way. There will be as many opinions as there are people," Palsner said.
And the work continues round the clock, Vaheoja said.
"In that sense, I hope city residents are understanding when the machines are driving around even at night," he noted.
In Tallinn, the environmental and municipal engineering department is responsible for maintaining main roads and some city parks. More minor streets and parks are managed by district governments while, as with snow clearing, many residential streets are the responsibility of property owners.
"As a rule, we make sure that sidewalks get cleaned first, then we move on to the green areas — much also depends on the wind direction, which affects how we can collect them. And once the workers and the brigade come to the park, we clean the whole park, which will then wait for the next leaf fall and the next round of cleaning," Palsner added.
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Editor: Andrew Whyte
