Most cities take tree branches free at the curb. You cut every piece under four feet, tie the bundles, keep the pile to clean wood only, and stay under the bundle count for that collection. County green waste sites take bigger loads if you own a truck. Dropcurb picks up bagged branches, leaves and trimmings from outside at $69 for the first contractor bag, and prices a loose pile from a photo.
Free works, and here is exactly when
If this was an afternoon of hedge trimming, stop reading. Cut the limbs under four feet. Tie them with twine, not wire. Set the bundles out on your normal trash day, and put leaves in paper yard bags. Most cities take it and it costs nothing.
Four feet is the most common cut length. Some cities say three, some say five, and many cap branch diameter at four to six inches. Your sanitation page has the real number for your address. Read it before you cut anything, because a pile cut to the wrong length gets tagged and left.
If you own a truck, the county green waste site is the other free answer. Most take resident loads free or for a few dollars a cubic yard. Bring ID and go early. The hours are short and mostly weekday.
What the free program actually counts
Your city is not taking your pile. It is taking bundles. That distinction is the whole story on this page.
- •Length. Every piece gets cut to the posted size. On a downed tree that is saw work, not chore work, and it is the part people underestimate by a full day.
- •Ties. Loose brush is not a set-out. Each bundle has to be tied, and most programs cap bundle weight around what one person can lift.
- •Count. Most curbside programs take a set number of bundles or cans per household per collection. That is the cap nobody reads until the truck leaves half the pile behind. A real tree's worth of wood goes out over weeks of Tuesdays, not on one Tuesday.
- •One clean material. Yard waste has to be yard waste. The tarp under the pile, the plastic nursery pots, the length of old fence the limb took down, the bag of dirt from the root flare. Any of that in the pile and the set-out gets refused as contaminated. So you sort first.
- •Season. In cold states, yard waste collection usually runs spring through late fall and then stops. A February limb waits for April.
That is the trap. The free program is counted in bundles and your yard is not in bundles. A mature tree drops 800 to 2,000 pounds of wood depending on species. Free is not the price. Free is the price plus a saw, a roll of twine, an afternoon of sorting, and four Saturdays you have not scheduled yet.
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| What you book | Price |
|---|---|
| Bagged branches, leaves or clippings, first contractor bag | $69 |
| Each additional bag (50 lb or less) | $20 |
| Loose branch pile | Price from a photo, before you book |
Bag the small stuff and leave it outside. Nothing gets tied. Bagged trimmings are $69 for the first bag and $20 for each one after, and a loose pile gets a price from a photo before you book. Book by 2 PM and a local hauler comes today, seven days a week. Haulers head out between 8 and 10 in the morning, and almost half of pickups are done by noon. You get a text with the ETA before they arrive and photos once it is gone. Nobody comes inside, and you do not need to be home.
See my price for bags of branchesHow is a downed tree priced?
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— Melissa Mader, Google
Tree work draws big quotes because full service crews walk your yard first and price by how much of the truck you fill. Curbside pickup is priced by the bag, on screen, before you book, and a loose pile gets a price from a photo.
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Bagged trimmings are $69 for the first contractor bag and $20 for each one after, so ten bags come to $249, on screen, before you pay. Keep each bag at 50 lb or less.
There is no cap on how many bags you can book. For limbs too long to bag, text a photo of the pile to (844) 879-0892 and we will send a price back before you book. The tarp and the old pots can ride along, each priced per item.
The price locks when you book. It does not move when the hauler arrives, so there is no on site estimate to sit through and nothing to settle at the curb.
Rounds are heavy: six bucked rounds of oak weigh what a whole brush pile does, so include them in the photo.
Trunks, rounds and stumps
Branches, rounds and stumps are three different jobs.
Cut rounds of oak, maple, hickory or ash are worth something to somebody. List them free on Facebook Marketplace and they usually move in a few days, because people who burn wood watch those listings all winter. Green rounds sell for very little, but free green rounds still go.
A trunk cut into rounds two people can lift can go in the same photo quote as the branches. A trunk section that takes a machine to move is tree service work, not hauling, and you want it bucked before anyone quotes it.
Stumps are their own trade. A stump in the ground carries soil and rock in the root ball, which is why haulers will not take one and why grinding is a separate line of work. Get a tree service with a grinder. Once it is ground, the chips are yard waste and go out with your normal collection.
If a storm just came through
Wait before you pay anyone. After a declared storm, many cities run a separate debris pass. Where a pass runs there is no cutting, no bundling and no size limit, and it is free. You pile it at the curb and a claw truck comes through, sometimes more than once.
The catch is the schedule. A first pass can be days out and a final pass can be weeks out, and your city posts both. Check the city or county emergency page before you book anything. If a pass is coming and your pile can wait, take the free pass. That is the right answer and it is not close.
Book a pickup when the pile cannot wait. Listing photos on Thursday. A closing date. An HOA letter. A driveway you cannot get a car down.
Frequently asked questions
Where can I dump tree branches for free?
Most cities run a curbside yard waste program that takes them free, if you cut the branches to the posted length and tie them. Four feet is the most common limit. Most county green waste sites take resident loads free or for a few dollars a cubic yard, and you haul it there yourself.
Is there a limit on how much you will take?
No count limit and no bundle rule. Bagged trimmings are priced per contractor bag and you can book as many as the pile needs; a loose pile gets a price from a photo before you book.
How long will the pile sit at my curb before pickup?
Book by 2 PM and a local hauler comes today, seven days a week. Haulers head out between 8 and 10 in the morning. Almost half of pickups are done by noon and about three quarters by 2 PM. You get a text with the ETA before they arrive.
Do the branches have to be out before I book?
No. Book first, then move it. The price locks when you book and does not change at the curb, so there is nothing to settle once the pile is out. Most people book the night before and stack it in the morning.
Can I burn branches instead?
In most cities, no. Open burning is prohibited across most US municipalities, and where it is allowed it is usually a county permit with a season and a setback. Green wood also smokes badly until it has dried for months.