This week marks a turning point for the City of Knoxville's Public Service Department crews - the end of leaf season and the restart of general brush and yard waste collections. 

City crews collect brush and other household yard waste every other week on pre-set fixed schedules. Brush collection is provided from Feb. 1 through the start of leaf season on Nov. 1. Brush pickup is suspended during the annual fall and winter leaf collection season, which runs from Nov. 1 to Feb. 1. 

You can find the brush collection schedule for your neighborhood on the City of Knoxville website or by calling 311 or 865-215-4311. 

The collections are no small feats. In 2014, about 26,600 tons of brush were picked up. Another 6,000-plus tons of leaves were collected. (Total yard-waste collections weighed in at 32,692 tons.) 

"Yard waste collection is a key service provided to our customers within the City," said Public Service Director David Brace. "Whether it is the removal of tree limbs, grass clippings, or huge leaf piles in the fall, efficiently collecting and recycling our organic resources is an important mission of the Public Service Department." 

All organic materials that are collected are ground and recycled into mulch or boiler fuel by the City's contractor. 

Residents should place yard waste next to the street in an unobstructed area (away from water spigots, mailboxes and utility poles) and keep it separate from other trash. Brush and leaves should not be mixed. 

Pickups of brush and leaves are among the top requests made to the 311 Call Center each year. The City has been using data and public input to increase efficiency and improve customer service, Brace says. 

As a result, calls for pickup service are actually decreasing. In 2014, the 311 Call Center received 617 requests for brush pickup and 204 requests for leaf pickup. Compare that with 2006, the year after the 311 Center was established, when there were 1,374 requests for brush pickup and 374 requests for leaf pickup. 

"We constantly look for ways to improve our routes and add efficiencies, which in turn means our customers receive more predictable pickups," Brace said.