The other day I was on the roof of one of our campus parking garages when I saw the sign above: "Please no yard waste." It made me laugh out loud. We were on top of a concrete structure occupying a full block, in the middle of a densely built urban area. If you were lucky, you could look over the edge of the garage to a nearby neighborhood with postage-stamp sized yards and you might see some yard waste.

So I mentioned it to the director of Transportation and Parking.

She was quick to assure me that the sign was completely serious.

Turns out that the nearest suburb charges residents for trash pickup by the bag. During the fall, instead of paying for leaf pickup, people were throwing the bags into their cars and dumping them off on the roof of the garage when they came to work. The first person put their bag into the trash can by the elevator, but it quickly overflowed and soon bags of yard waste were piled everywhere. It became both a hassle and an expense to keep cleaning it up.

So the trash cans went away and the signs went up. Problem solved.

It makes me wonder where the bags are being dumped now instead.