Will my county pick up yard waste in Virginia?

It depends on where you live. Yard waste pickup is set locally rather than by the state, so your county, city or town, or the private hauler that serves your street, decides what is collected, how it has to be set out and when. The reliable move is to look up your own locality's public works page or call it, and the examples below show how different the answers are.

Fairfax County: yes, with rules

Fairfax County defines yard waste as grass clippings, leaves, straw, flowers, small prunings and brush, meaning branches and twigs smaller than 4 feet in length, generated during general yard maintenance.^[1] The definition does not include material from tree removal, land clearing or home renovation, such as tree stumps, lumber, treated wood, pallets, sawdust, dirt, mulch, sod or food waste.^[1]

How you set it out matters. The county says to use a reusable container or paper yard bags, and that yard waste in plastic bags may not be collected;^[1] for brush you can also tie branches up with string.^[1] If a private hauler collects your trash, follow that company's instructions instead.^[1] For large amounts of yard waste and brush, the county says to contact your hauler or a bulk or junk removal company.^[1]

Richmond: bulk and brush every other week

Richmond collects bulk and brush bi-weekly all year, on your trash collection day during your recycling collection week.^[2] You put the items out by your trash cans the night before, in the same location as household trash.^[2] If they are not collected on your collection day the crew will return by Saturday of that week, and if they are not collected by Saturday of the second recycling week, the city says to contact 3-1-1.^[2]

After a storm, Richmond says non-emergency removal of limbs, branches and other tree debris is handled through the same bi-weekly program. Pieces can be no larger than 48 inches, the debris must be placed at the property line, and the crews do not have chain saws or other cutting equipment.^[2] A faster, paid option exists: bulk and brush collection requests are available for $100 per request on a 24-hour basis.^[2]

Montgomery area: a drop-off fee

The Montgomery Regional Solid Waste Authority accepts clean brush and wood, with no nails, as woody waste for a fee.^[3] Where a locality leaves yard waste to the resident like this, it is a self-haul job: you load it, drive it to the site and pay at the scale. Call your own county or town to learn whether it also collects any yard waste at the curb.

How to find your own answer

1. Search your locality's name with "yard waste" or "bulk and brush", or call the public works or solid waste office.
2. Ask five things: is yard waste collected at the curb, on what days, in what containers, how long can branches be, and is there a fee or a limit per pickup.
3. If a private company collects your trash, call it; its rules can differ from the county's.

If you live in a townhouse or condominium community, the homeowners' association may arrange its own contract. Fairfax County, for one, lets some townhome communities that do not generate a large amount of yard waste seek approval of an alternative yard waste recycling system.^[1]

When pickup is not enough

Curbside collection is built for routine yard maintenance, not a season of storm cleanup or a cleared lot. For a big load, compare what yard debris removal costs, or what a dumpster rental costs. Burning is a poor default: whether it is allowed can turn on whether a regular collection service reaches your street, as our guide to burning brush and yard waste in Virginia explains.

Stop and call a pro if

• A tree or large limb is down on a house, fence or power line. That is tree-service and utility work, not something to cut up and put at the curb.
• Your yard waste is mixed with construction scraps, paint or chemicals. Locality yard waste pickup will not take it; ask the disposal site where it goes.
• The locality will not take your volume. Hire a hauler, with a written quote that names the debris and the disposal fee.

Getting help in Virginia

Loclis lists local businesses that haul yard debris when curbside pickup is not enough. Browse junk and moving services, read more junk and moving answers, or describe the yard debris once and local haulers quote it.