Austin, TX Trash & Recycling: Yard Waste Collection (2026)

City Code Section 15-6-5 sets eligibility standards for every collection stream Austin Resource Recovery runs, and brush and yard trimmings get their own standard distinct from bagged household garbage or bulky items. Under Subsection (A)(3), an item qualifies for brush collection and yard trimmings collection service only if it is compostable wood or fiber material that the City's composting program can actually take, which rules out treated lumber, plastic edging, rocks, and other non-organic debris mixed into a brush pile. Subsection (B) gives the director discretion to layer on additional restrictions, including limits on the quantity or type of items collected, based on three named factors: protecting the safety of department collection personnel, the capability and capacity of the department's collection equipment, and the market and pricing conditions for the resulting compostable or recyclable material.

Section 15-6-4 requires the director to keep a published list of everything the department collects, so the specific accepted-item list for brush and yard trimmings lives in that director-adopted list rather than in the ordinance text itself. Because brush and yard trimmings service runs through the same Chapter 15-6 framework as regular trash, the chapter's general nuisance and accumulation rules still apply: Section 15-6-112(A) makes it an offense to deposit or let solid waste, including yard debris, accumulate on public or private property in a manner that becomes unsanitary or emits offensive odors.