Changing the garbage and refuse collection schedule in Auburn makes a lot of sense, and we want to see city officials follow through with it.

Under city sanitation supervisor Michael Talbot's proposed change, household trash and recyclables would be picked up Tuesday, Wednesday, Thursday and Friday, with Monday set aside for leaves, branches and other special cleanups.

One of the repeated complaints we've heard through the years from property owners in the city is that collection of yard waste is too haphazard. By chance, the collection is sometimes timely. Other times, bags of leaves sit out for too long, leaving more opportunity for bags to become ruptured and leaves spread around the street before a city crew comes to collects them.

Dedicating Mondays for this type of pickup makes sense because most people do their yardwork on the weekends and can get things out to the curb by Sunday night.

We understand, however, that changes like this are often accompanied by confusion and complaints.

With the current collection schedule having been in place for so long, there will surely be homeowners who have trouble adjusting.

The city can help mitigate problems by giving homeowners plenty of notice and being very clear about the new schedule. Perhaps instead of one letter that explains all the changes (thus giving people a lot of information they don't need) the city can send tailored notices to people in different neighborhoods letting them know specifically when their own particular garbage pickup day will be.

We believe that changing the pickup schedule is a great idea. The plan simply reorganizes the daily routines of city workers to make things run more smoothly.

Better yet, there won't be any added costs.