Fall Yard Waste Cleanup in Springfield, MO

The rule: no yard waste in Missouri landfills

Missouri law says "After January 1, 1992, yard waste shall not be disposed of in a solid waste disposal area." The statute defines yard waste as "leaves, grass clippings, yard and garden vegetation and Christmas trees" — and says the term "does not include stumps, roots or shrubs with intact root balls." Springfield's Noble Hill landfill lists yard waste among the things it turns away. So leaves and clippings cannot ride along in a trash load; they need a load of their own.

Plan the weekend

Walk the property and list what is leaving: leaves and clippings, fallen branches, spent garden beds, gutter debris, and outdoor items that did not survive the summer. Pick one staging spot. A single pile is faster to load than a dozen scattered ones. Then work in order:

1. Gutters first. Clearing them before the heavy leaf drop saves a second trip up the ladder.
2. Branches and brush. Trim while the weather is mild, and cut limbs to lengths that pack tightly.
3. Beds and borders. Pull spent annuals and cut back perennials.
4. The shed and garage. Fall is the natural time to purge what you will not touch until spring — that pile goes in a separate trash load.

Springfield's Yardwaste Recycling Center

The City's Yardwaste Recycling Center is at 3790 S. Farm Road 119, Brookline, open 8 a.m. to 5 p.m. Tuesday to Saturday. Grass, leaves, garden and flower-bed vegetation and small non-woody shrub trimmings are free "from residences, commercial haulers and lawn services." Brush is charged by the load. Limbs must be cut to 10 feet or shorter; limbs up to 10 inches across are fine, but "Limbs OVER 10 inches and root balls must be taken to the Springfield Sanitary Landfill." The center does not take root balls, rocks, lawn bags, boxes, lumber, pallets, fence posts, dirt or trash.

That works for a pickup load or two. A storm cleanup or a full fall weekend is a lot of trips at a site that closes Sundays and Mondays — that is where a roll-off earns its keep.

Brush-site rules in the towns around us

Several towns run their own brush sites or curbside rules, and the ones with sites keep contractors out:

Clever, Strafford, Fair Grove and Rogersville did not publish yard-waste rules we could read, so check with your city or call us.

What a yard-waste roll-off is for

A yard-waste box works because the load stays clean: leaves, clippings, branches, brush, spent garden beds. Keep household junk, bags of trash, lumber and fence posts out of it. Separated green waste is easier to route to composting, which is better for the land and can keep costs down. Tell us about stumps, root balls and big limbs before you load — under state law they are not "yard waste," and Springfield sends limbs over 10 inches and root balls to the landfill, not the yard-waste center. Dirt and rocks are heavy and go in a separate box.

Our 10 and 15 yard roll-offs suit most fall cleanups — easy to load and right-sized for a residential driveway. A tree removal or storm cleanup may need a 20. And for tree crews and landscapers who cannot use the Republic or Bolivar brush sites, a yard-waste roll-off on the job is the simple answer.

Make it a one-weekend job

Call (417) 720-8150, 24 hours a day, 7 days a week. Tell us the address, what is in the pile and whether junk, stumps or dirt are coming out too, and we plan the boxes. Drop it in the driveway, load it on your own schedule over the weekend, and we haul it off when you are done. Same-day delivery is often available when you call before noon.