The trees are dumping leaves across Columbus, but where are Columbus residents dumping those leaves?

A small number of homeowners are paying for curbside pickup. Some are putting leaves in their garbage cans. Others say they've seen residents dump them in ravines or rake them to their curbs and let the wind blow them away.

To save money, the city cut free yard-waste pickup last winter and asked 230,000 households to haul their twigs and leaves to free drop-off sites or to

sign up for a fee-based curbside program through Rumpke. Those 230,000 households had put 26,000 tons of yard waste out for weekly curbside pickups last year.

According to Rumpke, 13,045 households signed up for the first six months of the $49.50 curbside service. As of Wednesday, 9,916 residents signed up for the next six months.

The city, which had hoped 30,000 households would sign up, paid Rumpke $1 million for the service. Last year, Columbus budgeted $4 million to pick up yard waste from the 230,000 households, costing about $17.39 per household.

Right now, the city is spending about $101 per household that signed up with Rumpke this fall.

Rick Tilton, the city's public-service spokesman, said he expects the number of residents signed up with Rumpke to increase.

Some households are hauling their yard waste to free drop-off sites. Last Saturday, residents hauled nearly 69 tons to six new sites, said John Remy, a spokesman with the Solid Waste Authority of Central Ohio.

It was the first of six consecutive Saturdays for the drop-off sites; the last is planned for Dec. 5. There are a total of 15 sites across the city.

Some neighborhood leaders say residents have not adjusted to the change.

"No one knows what to do with it," said Geoff Phillips of the Highland West Neighbors Association on the Hilltop.

He said some residents are dumping leaves into the 300-gallon containers in alleys.

Remy said SWACO hasn't noticed Columbus garbage trucks dumping loads of leaves mixed with garbage at the Franklin County Landfill.

Some residents aren't doing anything.

"There's a bunch (of leaves) in the streets," Phillips said.

Clintonville Area Commissioner John DeFourny said residents there are mixing leaves with trash as well as raking them to the curb.

City law prohibits residents from placing yard waste in their garbage containers, but refuse crews usually don't check.

Mayor Michael B. Coleman has said free curbside yard-waste pickup will resume in the spring after the Rumpke contract ends. Voters approved an income-tax hike, from 2 percent to 2.5 percent, in August.

mferenchik@dispatch.com