Yard waste, also known as “green waste” or “biological waste,” is any vegetative or organic waste left over from lawn and garden landscaping. Dry leaves, grass clippings, stalks, branches, twigs, mulch, garden waste, tree trunks, holiday trees, general yard debris, and prunings from trees or shrubs are all considered yard waste.

Are you wondering what to do with your yard waste? Here are some options available to dispose of yard waste in an efficient manner:

• Hire a junk removal company such as 1-800-GOT-JUNK? to handle all the work and dispose of your yard waste in an eco-friendly manner whenever possible.
• Rent a roll-off dumpster from your local waste management company to get rid of yard waste and debris, if you don’t mind loading the dumpster yourself.
• Contact your local trash collection service to check if they can arrange a yard debris pickup to dispose of your yard waste.
• Mulch mow your yard waste and leave it on the lawn.
• Collect the debris and take the bags to a leaf drop-off site to get rid of the yard waste.
• Check if your neighborhood has curbside composting for yard waste disposal. If not, then you can also compost the waste at home.

Fallen/downed tree disposal

When a tree falls over or is downed, the first step to proper disposal is removing the branches by snapping or cutting them off. This will give you easier access to the trunk of the tree.

Once the branches and leaves are removed and clear of the trunk, chop up the trunk into manageable pieces. This is easiest with a saw but can be physically intensive depending on the size of the tree. If this sounds like too much to do on your own, it probably is! Calling a local tree removal or landscaping service might be your best option.

Once you have the branches separated and the trunk cut into manageable logs, the next step is getting rid of it all. If you have a fireplace, oak, birch, or maple wood is perfect firewood. If you don’t have a fireplace, you’ll have to get the remaining wood to the correct waste facility.

1-800-GOT-JUNK? can help you with this! We’re a full-service junk removal company, and our friendly yard waste removal truck teams can haul all the branches and logs to your local green waste facility, leaving the heavy lifting and proper disposal to the pros. Whether it's taking your yard waste to a recycling center to be processed or to a local landfill for environmentally safe disposal, we manage everything so that you can spend your time and energy on more important things.

Stump removal

Getting rid of a tree stump on your property is time-intensive and laborious. We recommend hiring a landscaper or a specialized tree removal company, given the nature of the work required.

The stump of a tree is designed by nature to be hard to dig out. The root system was made to hold up a tall tree that can weigh hundreds or thousands of pounds. This means that special products are required to get rid of a tree stump.

The quickest way to get rid of a tree stump is to hire a local tree removal service with specialized stump grinders. It’s noisy business, but stump grinders are specifically designed to turn your tree stump into wood chips quickly.

Some local landscaping services may offer tree stump removal by using chemicals to cause the stump to deteriorate to a point where it’s easier to chop it up or dig it out. This process requires the drilling of multiple holes into the stump, adding special chemicals to the holes, and allowing the stump time to absorb them and deteriorate. At the end of the process, you still need to dig and chop up the stump, but it’ll be much easier.

Once the stump is out of the ground and in manageable piles of wood or chopped into wood chips, you’ll need to transport those to a green waste facility in your town. If your personal vehicle doesn’t have enough space to do this, or you don’t want to get it covered in dirt and wood splinters, call a full-service yard debris removal company like 1-800-GOT-JUNK? to come and dispose of your tree stump for you. As part of our yard waste and brush removal services, we can carry away your broken-down wood and haul it to the right disposal center for you.

Here’s why you should not put yard waste in trash or recycle bins:

1. Some US cities have made it illegal to dump yard waste and debris with household trash or in kitchen recycling bins.
2. Organic waste in the recycle bins and green materials can be processed and turned into mulch. However, some yard waste, such as soil, rocks, treated woods, broken pots, etc., cannot be recycled.
3. It is difficult for the local trash and waste management companies to separate and dispose of yard waste and debris if they are mixed with household trash.
4. Keeping yard waste out of recycle bins and garbage is a small step towards a greener environment.

An easy way to handle leftover tree branches is to run them through a wood chipper. Once the branches are broken down, the wood chips can be spread around gardens and plants as a homemade, moisturizing mulch. Some cities operate communal wood chippers to keep the community free of green waste. Find out if your city has a yard clean-up and removal program or if your local waste collectors offer branch collection.

After you're done mowing your lawn, there are several ways to clean up the grass clippings. One way is to rake the trimmings up, place them in biodegradable yard waste bags, and set them on your curb for yard waste collection. Another option is to leave the cut grass on your lawn. This “grasscycling” process allows the old grass to break down and add nutrients back into the soil. Grass clippings can also be added to a compost heap or used as a moisture-providing mulch.

If you have yard trimmings piled up on your property, the most eco-friendly option is to recycle yard waste.

Here are 5 ways you can recycle your yard trimmings:

1. Use green waste in compost piles.
2. Use trimmings as moisturizing mulch.
3. Leave trimmed grass on your lawn to grasscycle the cut grass.
4. Schedule a pickup from your local recycling companies.
5. Hire a junk hauler to take your yard waste to a recycling facility.

Don’t let your trimmings go to waste — recycling is good for your curb appeal and the planet.

Once you’re done working in your yard, your next step is to clean up the leftovers. The easiest way to get rid of your tree branches, bush trimmings, and lawn clippings is to schedule a waste pickup.

Here’s how you can prepare for your lawn waste pickup:

1. Before you start, purchase large, biodegradable bags to collect the trimmings.
2. Gather the waste with gloved hands, shovels, or rakes.
3. Place the waste into the bags.
4. Tie the bags up securely.
5. Place the bags on the curb for their scheduled pickup.

Remember, not all waste management services collect green waste. If this is the case in your community, feel free to rely on our yard debris removal to do it for you, hassle-free!

Bagged dirt, bagged soil, rocks, panters, treated or coated wood, large trees or stumps, and concrete are not considered yard waste and may not be accepted with the rest of your yard waste pickup. Of course, every collection service is different, so check with your city’s waste management service or local private collection companies to find out what sort of yard waste they accept.

Also known as “fly dumping” or “fly-tipping,” dumping garden debris or any other green waste anywhere but an authorized waste collection area is illegal. Instead of dumping your garden waste into areas where it doesn’t belong, there are several alternative methods that are both legal and safe for the environment.

These methods include:

• Composting
• Recycling
• Using waste as mulch
• Renting a dumpster
• Scheduling a pickup from a local junk hauler or yard cleanup company