Alpharetta, GA Trash & Recycling: Yard Waste Collection (2026)

Section 38-5 of the Alpharetta Code of Ordinances makes yard waste separation mandatory for every occupier of land in the city. Grass, leaves, pine straw and thatch must be segregated together in an approved yard waste container, defined in section 38-1 as a plastic or galvanized receptacle with two handles and a lid holding no more than 40 pounds; pine cones and hedge clippings get their own approved container, and tree limbs of proper size are stacked at curbside instead. Each residential or business unit must supply its own container and place it curbside on the day the city council sets by resolution; currently that is every two weeks, on the same day the contractor collects garbage and recyclables, and a single address caps out at ten containers per pickup.

Containers cannot go to the curb more than one day before the scheduled collection, and empty containers have to come back off the curb promptly afterward. Yard waste in anything other than an approved container, such as a plastic bag or cardboard box, will not be picked up at all, and residents are on their own for tree stumps, limbs over three feet long or six inches thick, rocks, concrete, bricks, tires, dirt, plaster and construction material under section 38-5(c). Section 38-14 treats yard waste left to pile up and become offensive or noisome as a public nuisance, and section 38-15 lets the city police department cite the responsible property owner, tenant or occupant, with punishment under the general chapter penalty in section 1-8 once a citizen's affidavit documents the violation.