Last Fall Leaf Pick Up

Due to the warm September weather, our maple trees changed color late this year. Usually we have completed all our leaf clean-up by Oct 10. Today, we bagged up the remaining leaves. When I was a child we burned the leaves in a large burn-barrel in the backyard. The smell of burning leaves always reminds me of fall. As I grew older, we bagged the leaves up in black plastic bags that were hauled away with the regular trash. After I got married, the laws were changed and leaves had to be disposed in special leaf-fill areas and huge vacuum trucks sucked the leaves up from curbside. Ten years ago, the city decided that the trucks were too expensive, so we now bag up leaves in large paper yard-waste bags. I understand the need to not fill landfills up with leaves that will decompose quickly, but I think those paper yard waste bags need to be rethought. The bags tear easily, don't hold very many leaves, fall apart in rainy weather, and are over 50 cents apiece. I know I'm cheap, but for a product that doesn't do the task it's supposed to do, they seem expensive.