Residential Yard Waste Collection

Residential yard waste collection service is provided two to three times per month: The 1st, 3rd and 5th Wednesday of each month, this is automatic and there is no call-in required.  Yard waste is classified as leaves, grass, pine needles, yard clippings and small brush (green waste).

The total number of bagged, canned or bundled yard waste is limited to twelve (12) per household per collection day.  All yard waste materials must be placed within 2 feet of the street's edge no later than 6:00 AM on the morning of the scheduled pick-up.

Yard waste such as leaves, grass, pine needles or small clippings must be:
  • Bagged using biodegradable paper refuse bags which can be purchased at a local retailer (bags not to exceed 30 gallons)
  • Placed in personal garbage cans (cans not to exceed 32 gallons)
  • Cannot exceed 50 pounds each
  • City-issued garbage and recycling carts cannot be filled with yard waste

Tree limbs and brush must be:

  • No longer than 4 feet in length
  • Limbs no larger than 4 inches in diameter
  • Must be tied securely in bundles which cannot exceed 2 feet in diameter and can’t exceed 50 pounds each

The following items and locations DO NOT qualify for Yard Waste pickup:

  • Household garbage of any kind
  • Anything other than green waste: No flower pots, fertilizer, mulch, bags, dirt, potting soil, sand, rock, gravel, etc.
  • Commercial businesses or commercially generated yard waste
Bring your active City Garbage Bill showing that you pay garbage and dispose of your yard waste at the City Transfer Station Facility for FREE.  This excludes commercial customers, yard waste contractors, and any lawn service providers.  The Customer must be present with a current City Garbage Bill at the time of disposal.  The yard trimmings must be de-bagged when unloaded. For more information on yard waste trimming collection services, contact the Solid Waste Services Division at 936-294-5712.
You can print these and post them on your refrigerator as a reminder of the yard waste requirements and dates!
  1. Residential Yard Waste Collection Specifics
  2. Especificos Desechos de Jardín
  3. YW HT Collection Schedules FY 2019 to 2020 Spanish
  4. YW HT Collection Schedules FY 2019 to 2020
​Follow this link to see a video all about composting!

How to Start Composting

Place yard waste in a plastic trash cans so you don't have to buy paper bags!

leaves in a trash can
​What else can you do with yard waste?
​
Don’t bag it-compost it!  With a little time and ingenuity you can create your own safe and nutrient rich compost that will nourish your lawn and landscape plants, as well as reduce your need for watering.  When you have yard waste, consider putting it in a compost pile instead of a bag that will be hauled off to the landfill.  It’s simple, and if you ask any avid gardener, it is worth the effort.  There are six major ingredients in a compost pile
  1. Nitrogen-this is all your waste that is green, like grass clippings, leaf trimmings, and kitchen scraps (stay away from meat and dairy scraps, they tend to stink and attract critters)
  2. Carbon-this is all your waste that is brown, like leaves, chipped up limbs, and thatch from the lawn
  3. Micro organisms-these are the bugs that will turn your pile into a dark fertile nutrient filled pile.  These are found in soil, water, plant surfaces, pretty much everywhere
  4. Water-every living organism needs water to grow
  5. Air-the type of micro organism that will turn a pile of yard waste into a pile of compost quickly needs air
  6. TIME!

There are many different styles to developing a compost pile, and all of them will eventually lead to compost.  You can go with the less structured route of putting everything in a heap in one spot and walk away from it and forget it, or go with more advanced systems with cages, boxes or tumblers.  No matter what type of system you go with, the principles of decomposition are all the same.  You have to have a balance of the six ingredients in order for the magic to happen!  The better your balance is, the faster it happens.  Don’t worry about getting it exactly right, no matter what you do, it will eventually break down.

  1. You need equal weight of carbon ingredients and nitrogen ingredients.  This is where it seems a little complicated, but it really isn’t so bad.  Dried leaves are very light, so you need a lot more dried leaves that you need green leaves, kitchen scraps, or grass clippings.  This is great news since everyone in this part of Texas has an abundant amount of dried leaves.
  2. You need your pile to stay damp all the way through.  Not sopping wet or you will drown your organisms, but not dry or the organisms won’t be happy either.  Like a rung out sponge.
  3. Your pile needs to be fluffy, so air can get in to the organisms.  Often this is done by turning over your pile once every week to once every couple of weeks with a pitch fork or a rake.  Having different types of items in your pile will keep things from matting down, like shredded leaves, tiny sticks and pine needles, kitchen scraps like lettuce, apple peels, old flower stems, and grass clippings all will allow air to flow through the pile.  The smaller the items in your pile, the faster they will decompose, so put items in a chipper or blender if you want to have a fast pile.  A great way to shred bags and bags of dried leaves quickly is to put them inside of an old trash can and take your yard string trimmer and stick it in the can and turn it on.  It’s like a giant blender and turns the leaves into tiny bits in seconds! 
  4. Finally, all you have to do is wait.  If you are very diligent with you pile and keep everything about it perfect, you can have fresh compost in a couple of months.  If you are the type of person that prefers a more laid back method of putting it all in a pile and walking away from it and never looking at it again, you can have compost in about a year or two.  There’s not really a wrong way to do it, and it keeps the green waste out of the landfills.
Once your compost is ready, spread it around!  Sprinkle it in your lawn, lay it down around the base of your bushes and trees, and put it in all your flower beds.  The compost will deter weeds, add organic matter to your soil which will help with water retention, and will slowly release nutrients to the plants and surrounding soil that will help make everything healthy and strong.