Cedar Grove's leaf season opens Monday, October 19. That date only covers some streets. If you live on a township street, the Department of Public Works keeps vacuuming loose piles through December 4. If you live on one of the Essex County roads that cross town, the county comes by during three specific weeks, and the leaves on your curb wait for whichever week is next. If you live on Pompton Avenue, a state highway, township code bars you from piling leaves at the street at all.
The town line has nothing to do with your schedule. The road owner does. Two of those county roads, Normal Avenue and Reservoir Drive, also run along Mills Reservation, home to the best fall view in Cedar Grove. Fall chores and fall walks run on the same map.
Three Owners, Three Rulebooks
TAPinto Verona/Cedar Grove's October 7 leaf-season rundown lays out both programs side by side. Here's how they compare for a Cedar Grove address this year:
| Road owner | Which streets | When leaves get picked up | Loose or bagged |
|---|---|---|---|
| Township DPW | Most residential streets | October 19 through December 4, on a rolling 7- to 14-day vacuum cycle | Loose curb piles, or brown paper bags on your recycling day |
| Essex County | Ridge Road, Bradford Avenue, Grove Avenue, Fairview Avenue, Little Falls Road, Stevens Avenue, Lindsley Road, Reservoir Drive/Normal Avenue | Weeks of October 26–30, November 23–27, December 21–24 | Loose piles or biodegradable paper bags, at least 10 feet from any storm drain |
| State of New Jersey | Pompton Avenue | No curbside leaf piles allowed under township code | Not applicable |
The biggest difference is how often each program comes. The township crew works continuously and returns to most streets within two weeks. The county comes three times, about four weeks apart.
The Township System Runs on Your Recycling Zone
The township's 2026–27 recycling and garbage guide gives the fall rule in capital letters:
All leaves must be placed in BROWN BIO-DEGRADABLE PAPER BAGS or PILED LOOSE IN NEAT PILES AT THE CURB and will be picked up curbside by the DPW during this time period. No other yard debris will be accepted.
Bags follow your recycling zone. Zone 1 is Monday, Zone 2 is Tuesday and Zone 3 is Wednesday, and the street table in the guide shows which zone covers your address. Pompton Avenue is split into address ranges in that table, so neighbors on the same road can land in different zones.
TAPinto's rundown spells out the practical details.
- Bags go to the curb the night before your recycling day. Crews leave plastic bags behind.
- You can buy paper leaf bags at most home and garden centers and at the township DPW yard.
- Loose piles may sit a few days. The cycle depends on how many leaves each street has, the weather and equipment maintenance.
- Don't park over a pile. The vacuum can't reach it, and hot exhaust over dry leaves is a fire risk.
- Leaves only. Branches, stones or grass mixed in can get a pile skipped.
- The leaves go to a transfer site and then to an approved composting facility, not to a landfill.
Running a rolling cycle takes extra hands. The township has been hiring part-time seasonal leaf crew at $15.23 an hour for about eight to 10 weeks, starting around October 16 and running through about December 21, with Saturday availability required.
The County System Runs on Three Windows
On a county road, the main rule is about timing. The county allows leaves at the curb no more than seven days before your pickup week, so for the first round the earliest date is about October 19.
Run that same rule through the rest of the 2026 schedule and you get three put-out windows:
- Round one: leaves out from about October 19 for the week of October 26–30.
- Round two: leaves out from about November 16 for the week of November 23–27.
- Round three: leaves out from about December 14 for the week of December 21–24.
The calendar gets tight here. TAPinto notes that foliage in northern New Jersey usually peaks from late October into early November. The first county sweep comes during peak color, before most leaves have fallen. Most of what drops in early November on Ridge Road or Bradford Avenue can't go to the curb until about November 16, and it's collected during the week that includes Thanksgiving. On a township street a block away, the same leaves could be vacuumed within two weeks.
Cedar Grove is in Section I of the county's 2026 schedule, along with Verona, Caldwell, Essex Fells, North Caldwell, Roseland, West Caldwell and West Orange.
Who sweeps a road can change, too. In past years, Verona's own DPW collected leaves on its county roads under a shared-services agreement. This year's schedule puts Verona in Section I with the county doing the pickups, and Verona no longer appears among the shared-services towns. Verona's township streets also have no loose-leaf vacuum. Bags go out every Wednesday all year. Two neighboring towns, one county, and four different setups.
The Slow-Schedule Roads Lead to the Best View
Here's where chores and walks meet. Essex County lists Mills Reservation's border as Reservoir Drive, Normal Avenue, Edgecliff Road and Montclair's Mountainside Park. Reservoir Drive and Normal Avenue are both on the county leaf schedule.
Essex County Parks describes the reservation as 157.15 acres split between Cedar Grove and Montclair, with four major trails and many smaller ones. One of the major trails leads to a cliff overlooking the New York skyline.
Its history explains why it feels so undeveloped. In 1954 the Park Commission received 118.9 acres from the Davella Mills Foundation, on the condition that the land stay in its natural state. The only development was a small parking area and a trail system, a minimal design by the Olmsteds in their last association with Essex County. There are no buildings on the reservation.
The outcrop at Quarry Point is the scenic lookout. It also draws bird watchers, who come for migrating hawks in the fall. That puts peak foliage, hawk migration and the first county leaf sweep all on Normal Avenue and Reservoir Drive in the same last week of October.
You can also walk out of the reservation on foot. The reservation holds a segment of the Lenape Trail, which the New York-New Jersey Trail Conference describes as a 36-mile route connecting 18 parks and 11 Essex County municipalities. The Trail Conference map shows the trail crossing Normal Avenue onto Cedar Grove Reservoir lands, then following a sidewalk and footpath to the West Essex Trail near Bowden Road. TAPinto suggests continuing on to Community Park, where the township says the upper playground was resurfaced in August under a $65,000 contract.
We covered the same ridge in summer, when it connects the trails, the concert lawn and Pompton Avenue dinners. You'll find that post on our Cedar Grove summer guide. In fall, the ridge also sets the county leaf schedule for a big part of town.
The Rest of the Season, Dated
The leaf calendar runs alongside a short list of other fall dates. In order:
- Thursday, October 15, 6–8 p.m. The 12th annual Real Panthers Wear Pink breast cancer awareness walk at Panther Park. Proceeds benefit the Minette's Angels Foundation, and the first 150 people to donate $20 get a T-shirt.
- Friday, October 16, 6 p.m. A free outdoor screening of The American Constitution at Morgan's Farm, followed by a Q&A with director David Garrigus.
- Monday, October 19. The township DPW starts leaf collection, and the earliest put-out date for county roads begins.
- Saturday, October 24, 1–3 p.m. Hands on History, presented by Lucky Metal Detecting, at Morgan's Farm, according to the Cedar Grove Historical Society calendar.
- Week of October 26–30. The first county sweep of Ridge Road, Bradford Avenue and the other county roads.
- Wednesday, October 28, 7:30 p.m. Little Theater, Great Company, presented by Dan Franks at the Cedar Grove Public Library. All are welcome, with a suggested $5 donation.
- Week of November 23–27. The second county sweep. Township municipal offices are closed November 26–27 for Thanksgiving.
- Friday, December 4. The township's last scheduled day of fall leaf collection.
- Week of December 21–24. The third and final county sweep.
One more date is still unconfirmed. The state's mobile DMV unit is expected in town sometime in October, but as of the September 29 calendar, no date had been announced.
At The Parlay Group, we track details like who owns a road because they shape everyday life on a street, and buyers ask about them when they're touring. If you want to know how your block compares with the rest of town, or what it's worth this fall, take a look at our Cedar Grove neighborhood page or request a home valuation. Let's Connect.
This article is general information, not legal, tax or financial advice. Consult a qualified professional about your situation.
