How to Get Rid of Yard Waste the Right Way

Whether you have grass clippings from mowing your lawn or branches leftover from pruning your shrubs, you may not think about the amount of yard waste you create. However, yard waste accounts for over 35 million tons of garbage generated in the U.S. each year, making it the fourth-largest waste contributor, according to the EPA. 

Even though yard waste comes from nature, it can negatively affect the environment. Yard debris, such as discarded grass clippings, leaves, tree branches and garden waste, can be transported by water into streets, gutters and storm sewers, causing algal blooms that upset the balance of the ecosystem. Landfills also pose a significant hazard, releasing methane, a greenhouse gas, as organic waste decomposes. 

To help combat these issues, we’ll explain how to properly dispose of your yard waste and manage your yard in an eco-friendly way.

Eco-Friendly Ways to Dispose of Yard Waste

Hiring a local yard waste clean-up service is a quick and easy way of clearing away pesky yard debris, especially in large amounts. However, depending on what type of material you want to remove, you may have a few other ways to clear smaller amounts of yard waste. Many states offer curbside collection, for instance, but you should look into your state’s guidelines and your city’s ordinances to understand the yard waste pickup regulations. If curbside collection isn’t an option, consider these ideas for safe disposal.

Compost the Yard Waste from Your Home

You can start composting yard waste in your own backyard. Composting recycles organic matter by allowing it to decompose naturally, creating a nutrient-rich material that is great for your soil.

Yard waste, along with food scraps, make up about 30% of what we throw away, according to the EPA. Composting takes these materials out of the landfill and turns them back into food for your garden.

A compost pile has four basic parts:

• Browns or dry waste, like dead leaves, branches, and twigs, for carbon
• Greens or wet waste, like fresh grass clippings, wet leaves, food scraps, and fruit and vegetable peels, for nitrogen
• Air for oxygen to help microorganisms break down organic material
• Water for moisture that also helps decomposition

Make sure your compost pile or compost bin has equal parts of green and brown material and that you alternate them in layers, putting larger material near the body of the pile. Avoid composting meat and dairy, which can attract unwanted pests and carry bacteria.

Try Mulching the Landscape

Mulching is another way to recycle yard waste naturally. Adding mulch to the surface of the soil can help protect and improve your landscape.

Mulching can benefit your garden in many ways by:

• Preventing water loss from evaporation and soil crusting 

• Reducing weeds by smothering existing ones and preventing seed germination

• Controlling soil temperature, keeping it cooler in summer and warmer in winter

• Reducing erosion by protecting against soil splashing, which also reduces soil-borne diseases

• Improving soil structure and nutrition content as it decays

• Encouraging plants to develop more roots as compared with plants that aren’t mulched

You may need some tools to mulch a yard, namely a wheelbarrow or hauler to transport the mulch and a shovel and rake to spread and distribute it. Before you lay mulch, weed the area; then, spread your mulch around the base of developed plants so that it isn’t touching the leaves or stems.

You can use common yard waste items to create nutrient-rich, organic mulch for your plants. These include:

• Tree bark
• Branches and sticks
• Grass clippings
• Leaves
• Shrubs

Consider Grasscycling

Similar to mulching, grasscycling turns the waste you produce into food for your yard. It involves mowing your lawn so that your grass is never more than 2 to 3 inches tall and leaving the trimmings where they fall in the grass so they decompose and feed your lawn.

If you cut just a third or less of the blade and cut no more than 1 inch in total, you can grasscycle your lawn, saving time, money, and the environment. Adding this to your mowing routine nourishes your grass without using fertilizers and reduces mowing time by 30% to 40% by eliminating the need to bag and remove trimmings.

Donate to a Community Garden or Neighbor

If you don’t have the time to invest in your own yard, you could always consider donating your yard waste to a local community garden or a green-thumbed neighbor:

• Community garden: Many community gardens have compost piles and are always looking for locally sourced compost. Donating to your local organization may be as simple as bringing your waste to the garden during a dropoff time or scheduling a yard waste pickup.

• Neighbors: If you don’t know of a nearby neighbor who composts, consider a site like ShareWaste, which connects people with neighbors looking for organic materials and food scraps to use in gardening, or a private collection service.

When sharing yard waste with your community, be sure to use paper bags or specific yard waste bags that can also compost along with the organic material you’re providing. Never use plastic bags to store these materials.

Drop Off Yard Waste at a Collection Site

If a community garden or neighbor aren’t options, you can also recycle your yard waste at your local county yard waste collection site or composting facility. Contact your local collection site for their specific guidelines on whether they have a collection day or you need to drop it off, as well as how much and what kinds of yard waste they accept.

Many facilities also repurpose green waste into mulch or compost, which you can pick up. Local composting facilities make a great option for eco-friendly waste management if you want the benefits of compost without having to maintain your own compost pile at home.

States and Cities with Yard Waste Landfill Bans

Some states, such as Illinois, Vermont, and Minnesota, prohibit yard waste disposal in landfills.

Regulations in each state will vary, so be sure to contact your local officials for the most specific guidelines. Some municipalities also regulate other aspects of yard waste reuse, like how many cubic yards of compost homeowners can have.

Tips for Managing Yard Waste

While you unavoidably create yard waste when performing all sorts of yard work, you can use methods to make what you generate a little more manageable.

Follow Proper Mowing and Pruning Practices

Mowing and pruning correctly are not only important for the health of your plants but also may reduce the amount of waste you create.

For healthy grass, you should only cut about one-third of the length of your grass each time you mow your lawn. If you keep your lawn at about 2 to 3 inches tall and mow more frequently, you’ll be able to additionally nourish the grass through grasscycling.

Improper pruning can do more harm than good for plants, and you can avoid some pruning by planting your plants in more suitable locations. For example, if a new shrub you plant grows to be very large, plant it in an area that’s big enough to accommodate its growth. That way, you won’t have to prune it down to fit in a smaller area.

Avoid Over-Fertilizing Your Yard

Avoiding over-watering or over-fertilizing your yard helps the health of your plants and the health of the environment as a whole. Excess fertilizer runoff can leach into and contaminate the groundwater. It can also wash into lakes and ponds and over-nourish the algae, causing harmful algal blooms while also polluting the water and killing fish.

Do Not Burn Leaves or Any Yard Waste

Burning yard waste is not a safe disposal method. It pollutes the air and can even cause uncontrolled fires.

Backyard burning releases many substances that are harmful to your health, according to the EPA, like carbon monoxide, dioxins, nitrogen oxide, and particulate matter. The smoke makes air unsafe to breathe and can also affect soil and water quality because rainfall redistributes smoke particulates.

These are all made even worse by the risk of wildfires, which devastate natural areas and are very difficult to control and extinguish.

Avoid Using Pesticide Products

While it may be tempting to use pesticides to get rid of pesky bugs, you risk killing off beneficial insects or hurting other wildlife in the process. Pesticides affect not only the target pests, but also other insects in the ecosystem, including earthworms, ants and beetles, that help make soil healthy. What’s more, it’s more difficult to compost or reuse yard waste that has been treated with pesticides.

Instead of using harsh chemicals that can harm plants and poison water and air when used excessively, incorporate plants into your yard and landscape that attract beneficial insects. They will naturally prey on bugs that damage your plants. You can also use eco-friendly pest control methods that make your yard safe for your children and pets. If you do decide to use pesticides, be sure only to do so with the guidance of a trained pro.

Being proactive about managing yard waste not only reduces the amount of organic waste sent to our landfills and recycling facilities but it may also improve the air quality of the environment and keep your lawn healthier overall. By keeping yard waste out of the trash, you can help return the nutrients back into the soil in an eco-friendly way.

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