Having a healthy and beautiful yard is a positive way to improve your home life, and maintaining it is often part of the fun of home ownership. Still, plants and trees eventually die. Removing dead material and diseased plants and doing regular pruning ensures your yard grows healthier, but — along with lawn mowing — can create a surprising amount of yard waste. What do you do with it all?
Disposing of yard waste isn’t as simple as it seems. Many locations have laws against putting yard waste in trash bins, and dumping it elsewhere can harm native plants, spread invasive species, and contribute to greenhouse gas emissions if it’s eventually moved to landfills.
There are ways of handling yard waste that are safe and improve your yard’s health. In this article, we cover what yard waste is and options — many of which are eco-friendly — for handling it.
What are Common Types of Yard Waste?
Yard waste, also called vegetative waste, is organic debris from your yard, garden, landscaping, and outdoor projects. It makes up most of the items you clean up in your garden.
Examples include:
- Plant and tree trimmings
- Branches
- Leaves
- Grass clippings
Yard waste is not:
- Food waste
- Animal waste
- Rocks
- Paper
- Household garbage
5 Eco-Friendly Ways to Dispose of Yard Waste
When yard waste ends up in landfills, it’s broken down by bacteria that don’t use oxygen. That breakdown process produces methane, a greenhouse gas. According to the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA), methane accounts for 20% of global emissions of greenhouse gases and is over 25 times more powerful at trapping heat in the atmosphere than carbon dioxide.
When yard waste decomposes in the more eco-friendly ways we’ll discuss below, it’s broken down by aerobic bacteria that use oxygen and don’t produce methane — so correctly disposing of yard waste goes a long way to creating a cleaner and healthier planet.
Below we’ll explore some key ways to use or dispose of yard waste that are better for the planet than landfilling:
- Mulching
- Composting
- Grasscycling
- Using local yard waste pickup and recycling resources
- Donating to local community farms
1. Mulching
Mulch is material you spread over the soil in your garden beds and under trees and shrubs. It keeps plants, trees, and roots cool, retains moisture, prevents frost damage, and limits weed growth.
Tree bark, shredded leaves, trimmings, and wood shavings from tree branches and trunks work well as mulch. You can create instant mulch by using a shredder, mulching mower, or wood chipper. You can also make it by composting, which we’ll cover in our next section.
By reusing your yard waste as mulch, you help prevent the material from being disposed of improperly while keeping your outdoor areas healthier all year.
2. Composting
Composting is the process of turning yard waste into compost, which builds and nourishes the soil and in turn boosts the health of plants. Gathering yard waste in one place for a set time helps oxygen-dependent bacteria and microorganisms break down the organic matter to create compost, which provides essential plant nutrients and also works as mulch.
When organic waste decomposes it creates methane, which is a climate super pollutant 84 times more potent than carbon dioxide. By simply composting yard waste, we can divert organic material from landfills to help reduce greenhouse gas emissions.
— Jeremy Walters, Sustainability Ambassador at Republic Services
Below we’ll take you through how to compost at home.
You’ll need a place to prepare the compost such as a bin you buy or build yourself, although a container isn’t strictly necessary. You can simply designate a place in your yard to pile the yard waste.
Compost Ingredients:
Here’s what goes into your compost pile:
1.Brown material (leaves, twigs, and plant stock) for microorganisms to eat
2. Green material (nitrogen-rich material like grass to heat the pile so that the material can break down sufficiently). You can also put vegetable matter such as peelings and coffee grounds from your kitchen waste into your compost, but be sure to avoid adding these items:
- any animal products (including meat and cheese) except for eggshells
- fats, oils, or grease
- pet waste
- paper
- weeds
- any plant material treated with herbicides
- diseased plants
How to Make Compost:
Build an initial pile four to six inches high with brown material, then layer on green and brown layers one at a time.
Add more material to the pile over time in the ratio of two to three times the amount of browns as greens. Cover any exposed food scraps with a layer of browns.
Mix the pile occasionally to boost the decomposition process and keep it moist by adding water as needed. The compost pile will become hot — as high as 160°F. This is normal. If it stays cold, add more greens. If the pile has a strong odor, add more browns.
To finish your compost, stop adding greens and browns but continue to mix it (you can start a new pile at the same time).The compost will be ready when it has cooled, turned a rich brown color, and has decomposed into small soil-like particles — generally after several months. The pile will have shrunk to about a third of its original size.
3. Grasscycling Yard Waste
This is an easy solution to dealing with grass clippings. After each yard mow, leave the clipped grass on the lawn. The clippings contain nutrients and moisture for healthy grass growth. You also limit lawn waste and the bags used to haul away the grass and won’t need as much fertilizer, which helps reduce pollution of runoff water.
To do it right:
- Use sharp mower blades to prevent shredding the grass and providing a potential entry point for disease.
- Avoid cutting grass when it’s wet.
- Cut only the top one-third of the height of the grass so the clipped sections disappear into the remaining grass. This means you may require more frequent grass cuttings.
4. Using Local Yard Waste Pickup and Recycling Resources
Your municipal trash service may pick up yard waste placed in a specific bin or when bagged correctly and left out for designated pickup days, or you may be able to call for special pickups. Many localities also have recycling centers where you can take yard waste. Yard waste that’s picked up or dropped off will be composted.
“One common mistake people make with their yard waste is placing it in their recycling bin. While yard waste is great for composting, that process cannot be confused with recycling. Yard trimmings (or food waste) should never be placed in your recycling bin. Yard waste has the potential to contaminant good recyclables which can cause them to no longer be viable for recycling and ultimately send them to the landfill,” says Jeremy Walters, Sustainability Ambassador at Republic Services and spokesperson for Republic’s nationwide Recycling Simplified education campaign.
Check with your local government to see what services are available and what the requirements for pickup and dropoff are.
Items you should exclude from picked-up or dropped-off yard waste:
- Animal feces
- Soil
- Plant pots
- Plastic bags
- Poison oak
- Rocks
- Treated wood
5. Donating to Local Community Farms
Your locality may have community or cooperative farms that take yard waste — and as an added bonus, you may be able to pick up finished compost in exchange for your waste.
Other Yard Waste Disposal Options
Below we’ll describe some additional ways to dispose of your yard waste.
Junk removal and disposal
A junk removal service can carry away your yard waste without you having to take it to the curb. Three pickup trucks’ worth of yard waste would cost around $300 dollars to haul away, but pricing and load sizes can vary based on your location and the size of the pickup.
A dumpster rental facility can also drop off and pick up a dumpster you load yourself. Pricing averages around $450 for a 20-yard dumpster (about six pickup truck loads). You may even be able to dispose of other waste in the same dumpster, but this depends on the provider’s rules.
Burning Your Yard Waste in a Safe Way
This is an effective solution when yard waste disposal is difficult, and you can even use the ash in your compost, but burning presents challenges. It increases the risk of uncontrolled fires and contributes to air pollution. Burning yard waste may be illegal in your area — check local regulations to see if burning is allowed and follow local guidelines.
If you can burn it, here are some ways to keep the process safe:
- Check weather conditions and any local fire conditions to make sure it is not windy and vegetation is too dry.
- Burn your debris in a fire pit at least 50 feet from your home and 150 feet away from neighbors. Choose an area close to a hose.
- Stick to burning dry, natural yard waste.
- Take into consideration the location and how high your fire is burning.
- Keep piles small and manageable.
- Always stay with your fire until it is entirely out.
Yard Clean-Up Services
You can hire a landscaping service to remove yard waste for you — if you need one, refer to our list of top lawn care companies. Many of the same companies also offer DIY lawn care programs to make your yard work easier. Just fill in a questionnaire, and the companies will ship you a gardening package and instructions tailored to your soil and lawn considerations, including weed and pest control.
What are Creative Ways to Repurpose Yard Waste?
You can repurpose your yard waste in creative and beneficial ways. Below are some ideas.
You can use grass as bedding for rabbits (as long as it’s completely dry and hasn’t been treated with herbicides). You can also use it as dry or liquid fertilizer for garden beds. To make liquid fertilizer, place the grass in a bucket of water for a few days and strain out the grass. If sprinkling dry grass on areas to be fertilized, remember that it may also create weeds. If it does, see our article on natural weed killer recipes.
Spread dead leaves to create a protective layer around trees and create habitat for ladybugs and other helpful insects.
Use all those extra branches for firewood or as supports for new trees and plants that grow vertically, such as tomatoes and tall flowers. You can also use them to make DIY decorations for your home and garden.
As with branches, you can use natural elements like pinecones and loose bark as decorations.
Safety Tips and Tools to Consider When Handling Yard Waste
Here are some helpful tips and tools to make dealing with yard waste easier and safer:
- Monitor weather conditions: Your work outdoors is done faster and more effectively in stable weather.
- Wear closed-toed shoes: They provide added protection when you bump into tree trunks and rocks or carry heavy loads of waste to a bin or dumpster. They also protect your skin from itchy plants and bug bites.
- Wear gardening sleeves: As with closed-toed shoes, these protect your skin from scratches, cuts, and irritating plants. You’ll also minimize sun exposure, allowing you to stay out in the yard longer.
- Wear gloves: If you garden, you know how gloves can protect you from sharp tree branches, thorns, and other hazardous objects. The same protection helps you when collecting yard waste.
- Use a leaf trimmer: These devices make doing yard work a breeze while significantly cutting your time spent trimming when compared with hand trimmers.
- Use a wheelbarrow: Carrying all those loose logs, twigs, and large bags of cut grass is a lot easier with these handy vehicles.
- Try a trash picker: This is a long pole with finger-like attachments for picking up plants such as poison oak or pruned branches you would rather not touch.
- Use a wide rake: Pull out dead leaves and branches with just a few swipes.
