Street sweeping and leaf pickup

Palo Alto has a large street tree canopy and much of it is deciduous. Leaves come down from October into winter, right as the rain starts. Those leaves clog storm drains and turn gutters into ponds. That is why the city sweeps residential streets every week during leaf season and asks residents to keep their leaves out of the street entirely.

This guide explains how the sweeping schedule works, where parking is restricted and what to do with leaves and yard waste. It is based on the city's street sweeping page, its 2026 schedules and maps and its sweeping ordinances page. Our urban forest guide covers the trees themselves.

How the schedule works

Public Works sweeps residential and light commercial streets on two schedules.

The city sets leaf season around observed leaf fall, so both ends can move. Its 2026 non-leaf schedule marks the last two weeks as subject to change for the same reason. The city says the whole schedule is subject to change.

Finding your day

The city posts three documents on its street sweeping page: a street sweeping map, a 2026 schedule of A and B weeks and a map of posted no-parking routes. The A and B calendar alternates week by week through the non-leaf season. The map divides the city into lettered areas. Between them you can work out your weekday and whether your street falls on A or B weeks. The city's online documents do not explain every detail of how the two fit together, so if your street is not clear, call Public Services at (650) 496-6974 or email [email protected]. Once you know your day, put a recurring reminder in your phone.

Parking on sweep day

Most residential streets do not have permanent sweeping signs. The city still asks residents to park off the street on sweep day. A sweeper cannot reach the gutter around a parked car, so leaves and grit pile up there and wash into the drains with the next rain.

Other parking rules still apply. Municipal Code section 10.36.030 limits on-street parking in residential areas to 72 hours unless signs say otherwise. Our parking guide and residential parking permits guide cover the other rules.

Posted no-parking routes

Some streets need a guaranteed clear curb. On those, the city posts temporary no-parking signs under section 10.44.050. The police traffic division approves and enforces the signs. The ordinance page warns that vehicles left standing are subject to citation or tow. Read the hours on the sign itself.

The city's 2026 map of posted routes lists six routes. Four run on Wednesdays on residential streets near downtown, including blocks of Fulton, Homer, Channing, Forest, Webster, Cowper, Waverley, Kipling, Emerson, Ramona, Bryant, Scott and Addison. Two run on Mondays near California Avenue, including College Avenue, Ash Street and Sherman, Sheridan and Grant avenues. Each route is swept a few times a year on a pair of dates and the map labels the two sides of the street separately. The city updated the map during 2026, so use the current version on its site. Our guides to Downtown North, University South and California Avenue describe those areas.

What to do with leaves

The single most important rule is simple: leaves do not go in the street. The city's ordinances page cites section 9.48.040, which makes placing debris or green waste in the street a violation. It also cites section 9.48.020, which bans blocking the street in any way. Gardeners and residents may not sweep or blow yard waste into the gutter. The street sweeping page repeats the point: do not rake, sweep, blow or pile leaves in the street or gutter.

Street sweeping is not a leaf pickup service. Instead, leaves go to GreenWaste of Palo Alto, the city's hauler, through the compost system described in our trash and recycling guide.

1. Fill the green cart. Leaves, yard trimmings and food scraps all go in the green compost cart, collected weekly.
2. Set extras beside it. Extra trimmings can sit next to the cart in paper bags, cardboard boxes or bundles no larger than 2 by 4 feet.
3. Ask about extra service. To schedule extra garden compostables pickup, the city says to contact GreenWaste at (650) 493-4894.
4. Use Clean Up Day. Single-family homes get two Clean Up Days a year, which take excess yard trimmings among other items.
5. Leave some in the beds. Leaves raked under shrubs make free mulch and help soil hold water, a point our water conservation guide expands on.

If you hire a gardener, make sure the crew knows the rules. Blowing leaves into the gutter is also a leaf blower problem, covered in our leaf blowers and noise guide.

Leaves, drains and flooding

Every street drain in Palo Alto flows directly to a creek. A layer of wet leaves over a drain grate turns a normal rain into a flooded intersection. During rain the city asks residents to rake leaves off the storm drain grate in front of their homes. If a drain stays blocked, call Public Works at (650) 496-6974 on weekdays from 7 a.m. to 4 p.m. or the 24-hour dispatch line at (650) 329-2413 after hours. Our rain and storm guide covers sandbags and creek levels.

Helping the sweeper do its job

The city's street sweeping page lists a few habits that make sweeping work better:

• Park off the street on your sweep day.
• Keep palm fronds, long twigs and branches out of the street.
• Trim trees and shrubs so the sweeper can reach the curb.
• Pick up litter in front of your property.
• Do not put furniture, bins or other objects in the street outside collection times.

Garbage, recycling and compost carts belong at the curb only on collection day and should come in within 24 hours, which also keeps the gutter clear.

Reporting problems

Use the Palo Alto 311 app for a missed sweep, a pile of leaves dumped in the street, a blocked drain or illegal dumping. For questions about temporary no-parking signs or the schedule, call Public Services at (650) 496-6974. Spills and dumping into the storm drain system go to the pollution hotline at (650) 329-2943.

Holiday trees and winter

Leaf season overlaps the holidays. For four weeks after Christmas, GreenWaste collects holiday trees from the curb next to your green cart. Remove stands and decorations, skip flocked trees and cut trunks into 4-foot lengths. Trash pickup shifts after Thanksgiving, Christmas and New Year's Day, as our holiday closures guide explains.

Frequently asked questions