Albany Department of General Services (DGS) collects yard waste curbside under City Code Chapter 313. Grass clippings and leaves must be set out in biodegradable paper bags — plastic bags are not accepted. Branches must be bundled and tied, no more than 4 feet 4 inches long. Material must be placed curbside the evening prior to the regular collection day. Dirt, stones, and bricks are not accepted.
Albany's Department of General Services (DGS) collects yard waste curbside on each property's regular weekly trash day, under the authority of Albany City Code Chapter 313 (Solid Waste). The program runs through the growing season and is paper-bag-only: yard waste in plastic bags will not be picked up, because plastic contaminates the city's composting stream.
Acceptable materials are grass clippings and leaves placed loose inside biodegradable paper yard-waste bags (typically 30-gallon kraft-paper bags sold at local hardware and home-improvement stores). Branches, twigs, and brush must be bundled and tied with twine or jute (no wire), and no individual bundle may exceed 4 feet 4 inches in length. Each bag or bundle must be manageable by a single DGS worker so it can be lifted into the collection truck.
Not accepted: dirt, rocks, stones, bricks, sod, lumber, treated wood, painted wood, or construction debris. Bags containing those materials will be left at the curb with a non-collection tag. Material must be placed curbside the evening prior to the property's regular weekly collection day, in line with the Chapter 313 set-out timing (no earlier than 4:30 PM the prior evening, no later than 12:01 AM on collection day).
The Department of General Services can be reached at (518) 434-2489 for schedule questions and special-pickup arrangements (large brush piles after storms, for example, can require a scheduled pickup or a hauling fee). DGS also operates seasonal leaf collection — typically late October through early December — when the city sends out vacuum-style leaf trucks; during the leaf-vacuum period, loose leaf piles may be raked to the boulevard strip (between the sidewalk and curb) without bagging, per DGS announcements.
Yard waste in plastic bags will be left uncollected and tagged. Material containing prohibited contents (dirt, stones, bricks, construction debris) is treated as illegal dumping or improper set-out and can be cited under Chapter 313 with fines typically starting at $50 and rising to $250 for repeat offenders. Material left at the curb outside the Chapter 313 set-out window can carry the same penalties as a regular trash set-out violation.
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