As the leaves turn to gold and red and brown and fall off the trees, the city of Ironton is asking people not to rake them into the streets.

Ironton Mayor Rich Blankenship said once the leaves get in the street, they get into the wastewater system and cause trouble. The street sweeper also has trouble picking them up.

“We are asking for citizens to bag their leaves and put them out with the trash,” he said. “The sanitation department will pick them up. If it is an absolute must, at least put them in a pile. But we prefer they bag them.”

If a large amount of leaves get into the wastewater pipes, it can clog it.

“It clogs the drain and when it rains, we get flooding,” Blankenship said. “And the wastewater facility has to clean the leaves out.”

Mike Pemberton, Irontons’s street, flood and sanitation departments’ director, asked people not to rake the leaves into the street but if they have to, rake it to the curb.

He said the best plan is to recycle the leaves and put them back into their yard.

“And if you aren’t going to put them back into the earth, at least bag them,” he said. “We don’t encourage them to rake them into the streets because they get into the storm lines and cause all sorts of problems.”

Pemberton said bagged leaves don’t present a weight problem as far as cost at the dump.

“They don’t really weigh all that much,” he said. “So if people will bag them and put it with the regular garbage, we’ll get them.”

He does however ask people to limit to 10 bags per trash day.