![\"City](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/04\/tos-l-yard-waste-freeze0260.jpg\")
City of Orlando refuse collector Marquis Ashley picks up yard waste along East Concord Street, on Wednesday, April 8, 2026. (Ricardo Ramirez Buxeda\/ Orlando Sentinel)<\/p>\nHomeowners across Central Florida have been frustrated to find their piles of dead leaves, branches and plants \u2014 victims of February\u2019s hard freeze \u2014 still sitting on their curbs because waste haulers haven\u2019t picked it up on time.<\/p>\n
In Orlando, crews said they\u2019ve collected about 1,200 more tons of yard waste so far this spring than last year, totals surpassing those of hurricanes. Teams aboard trucks are working 12-hour shifts, six days per week \u2014 longer hours and more days than normal \u2014 to get it all picked up.<\/p>\n
This week was the first since the uptick that crews have completed their routes of roughly 1,200 homes in a 12-hour shift, said Alan Morrison, the city\u2019s Solid Waste manager. But as fast as they pick it up, residents are pulling bags of more debris out to the curb.<\/p>\n
\u201cI\u2019ve never seen anything like that,\u201d he said. \u201cI\u2019m thinking we\u2019re at the tail end of it.\u201d<\/p>\n
City of Orlando refuse collector Marquis Ashley picks up yard waste along East Concord Street, on Wednesday, April 8, 2026. (Ricardo Ramirez Buxeda\/ Orlando Sentinel)<\/p>\n
Cities and counties already expect higher debris collections each February and March, as live oaks lining city streets dump leaves and pollen ahead of spring. But this year, the region was hit with multiple days of below-freezing temperatures in early February, with foliage continuing to die over the weeks that followed.<\/p>\n
Tropical palms and other warm-weather plants were battered as temperatures dipped into the mid-20s, far colder than many native plants can survive.<\/p>\n
Residents who cleaned up in the weeks that followed have sometimes been upset that it hasn\u2019t all been scooped up on schedule. One commenter in a neighborhood Facebook group said she reported her street being skipped three weeks in a row, while others said they were going to ask for a refund on their service fee.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe have family coming into town for Easter and our street looks terrible,\u201d another commenter wrote.<\/p>\n
At a city council meeting this week, Commissioner Patty Sheehan said crews are doing their best, but are inundated with work.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe\u2019re at hurricane volumes right now,\u201d City Commissioner Patty Sheehan said. \u201cThe other thing people don\u2019t take into consideration is not only are trucks getting filled up faster, but there\u2019s a line at the dump to get in as well. So it\u2019s not that we\u2019re not trying \u2014 there\u2019s just a lot of yard waste out there.\u201d<\/p>\n
In March, Orlando crews collected nearly 2,300 tons from the curb \u2014 862 tons more than last March.<\/p>\n