Leave Your Poor Leaves Alone!
The author, a former Director for YEPT, is a freshman at University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign.
More and more homeowners are choosing to let fallen leaves stay where they land — and for a good reason.
An annual survey by the National Wildlife Federation found that 18% of those with yards do not collect or remove any fallen leaves from their yards. This is a 15% increase from 2024. Yet despite that increase, over a third of respondents, at 32%, reported throwing away six or more trash bags of leaves each autumn.
Leaves and other common yard debris make up a significant chunk of the U.S. waste stream. According to the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA), they account for more than 13% of the country’s solid waste, equaling about 33 million tons a year.
When yard waste is bagged in plastic and sent to a landfill, it doesn't decompose naturally. The plastic covering and low-oxygen conditions that come from being surrounded by other trash leads to a heightened methane production than what would occur naturally.
Methane traps heat in the atmosphere, and the overproduction coming from our ever-growing landfills is quickly becoming detrimental to the environment.
Beyond the climate benefits, fallen leaves serve as a natural mulch, suppressing weeds, helping to retain soil moisture, and returning nutrients to the ground as they decompose.
Leaf litter also provides an important habitat and cover from predators for insects, amphibians, small mammals, and birds during the winter months, with many of these animals being important pollinators. For example, many butterflies hibernate in the leaf litter, and birds will forage among the leaves for insect prey.
Photo by Vladimir Srajber, courtesy of pexels.com.
And according to recent YEPT interviews of U.S.A. residents, leaving your leaves seems to have a positive impact on your home.
“I noticed increased worm and beetle activity. I especially noticed the increase of pill bugs,” William R., California resident, said.
People also seem to find not raking leaves much easier than actually raking them.
“I've been trying to go no lawn so I started leaving the leaves in the fall of 2021, and there's really no difference outside of way less cleanup," John Halleran, Connecticut resident, said.
And those who choose to leave the leaves also seemed to have some more aesthetic results in their lawns and gardens.
“I noticed my soil being healthier in the first year, and then more of my plants seemed healthier in the following years,” Cassie Guzman, San Diego resident, said.
Leaves are more beneficial to you and your environment when they stay right where they land. This fall, skip the lengthy raking and cleanup to help the environment.
