Where can I dump yard waste? Free, unless the pile is mixed

If your city runs a green cart or a seasonal yard waste collection, that is your answer. Put the bags out on your day and do not pay anybody. In most programs it is already in your utility bill.

The set-out rules look about the same everywhere. Paper bags, not plastic, because the bag has to break down with what is inside it. Branches cut to about four feet, tied with twine, under about 50 pounds a bundle. A cap of roughly 10 to 20 bags or bundles a week. Season dates and the cap are what vary most, so read your city's solid waste page before you start bagging.

If you own a truck, the county compost or yard waste drop-off is next. Bring a utility bill, because most are resident only. Residents commonly pay $5 to $30 for a car or small trailer load. Some hand you finished mulch on the way out.

Then it stops working, usually for one of four reasons.

• •Volume against vehicle. Four paper bags fill a sedan trunk. One afternoon of hedge work makes twelve. That is three round trips and loose leaves in the upholstery for a month.
• •The calendar. Curbside collection is seasonal across most of the country, and it winds down right as the leaves come down. Most drop-off sites keep weekday hours plus one Saturday morning.
• •The pile got older. Wet paper bags tear open when you lift them. A pile that sat two weeks weighs more than the one you made.
• •And the one that ends it. Your pile is not one thing. There is a dead shrub with the root ball still on it, a cracked planter, a rotten fence panel, the mower that stopped starting, half a bag of potting soil. A compost site turns the whole load away for the one item in it that is not green waste.

Every free route on this page takes one clean material at a time. Almost nobody's pile is one clean material.

Search your city or county name plus yard waste drop off. Use the public works or solid waste page, not an aggregator directory, because the aggregators go stale.

If your city has 311, call it and ask three things. Is the program running right now. What is the load limit. Do I need proof of residency. Those three answers decide whether the trip is worth making.

Call the site itself too. Hours shift with the season and plenty close at noon. Municipal and hauler programs change without much notice, and the acceptance call happens at the gate, not on the website. People do get turned around with a full trailer.

Check whoever bills you for trash. Republic, Waste Management and most regional haulers list your set-out day and whether green waste is already in your service. Many run transfer stations open to the public, though not every location takes yard waste.

Taken at nearly every site: grass clippings, leaves, weeds, garden plants, hedge trimmings, brush, and branches cut and bundled to length.

Turned away at most: dirt, soil and sod, rocks and gravel, stumps and root balls, treated or painted lumber, landscape fabric, plastic edging, hoses, and the pots the plants came in. Bagged potting soil counts as dirt.

Two rules catch people out. Plastic bags get left at the curb in most cities, because the bag has to break down with what is inside it. And a mixed load is priced as the worst thing in it, so one bucket of dirt can move your whole trailer to the construction debris rate.

If your pile is mostly dirt, sod and old lumber, a construction debris drop-off is the right trip, not a compost site.

The pile goes in one pickup. No sorting and no cap on how many bags: bagged leaves and trimmings, the planter, the mower, the patio chair that has been leaning on the fence since spring. You do not load anything and you do not drive anywhere.

The price is per item and you see it before you pay. A contractor bag of yard waste is $69 and each extra bag is $20, with each bag at 50 lb or less. Six bags come to $169. Four bags plus the mower that stopped starting come to $199. Loose branches that will not fit in a bag get a price from a photo first. Whatever the number says when you book is the number, and it does not change when the truck arrives.

You do not have to bag it and put it out first. That order trips up a lot of people. Book it, the price locks, then put the pile somewhere a truck can reach from the street any time before they arrive.

Book by 2 PM and a local hauler comes today, seven days a week, in all 50 states. Almost half of pickups are done by noon and three quarters by 2 PM. You get a text with the arrival time and photos once it is gone. Nobody comes inside and you do not need to be home.

5.0 on Google across 150+ reviews, 4.9 on Trustpilot across 125+, and over 1,000 items picked up every month. Melissa Mader wrote that she was concerned this wasn't a legit company, but they absolutely are, after being quoted $1500 by someone else. Tyler Bond paid $89 for a couch a mover had quoted at $250, and it was gone 45 minutes after he booked.