make like a tree and leaf

The other day I was watching my neighbor rake her yard. I internally reveled in the fact that I was sitting in my front room drinking tea as she worked outside in cold. Ahh the joys of renting instead of owning. As I sipped my mint tea I watched as she began loading the newly raked leaves into plastic garbage bags. The horror!! How does that make any sense? She is putting something completely natural, biodegradable, and good for the earth into plastic which is the complete opposite of all of those. These leaves will just end up in a landfill somewhere. If burning leaves causes air pollution and is a fire hazard and people don't want unattractive compost piles in their yards what other options do we have?

p.s. I was just talking to a friend about this and she has a friend that drives around the Audubon area about once a week collecting bags of leaves from people's yards to add to her compost!