Butte County, CA Trash & Recycling: Yard Waste Collection (2026)
Key Facts
- Length limit
- 3 feet
- Diameter limit
- 6 inches
- Contaminant cap
- 1% by weight
- Must fit in
- hauler-provided container
- Collector
- franchised hauler only
Summary
Butte County defines yard waste as green waste discarded from a landscape, and requires that anything a customer sets at the curb for pickup fit strict size limits: nothing longer than three feet, and nothing thicker than six inches in diameter, and it has to fit inside the container the hauler provides. Franchised haulers collect it alongside trash and recycling under Chapter 31.
"Green waste" shall be green material that is any plant material separated at the point of generation. It contains no greater than one (1) percent of physical contaminants by weight. Green waste includes, but is not limited to, yard trimmings, untreated wood wastes, natural fiber products, and construction and demolition wood waste. Green waste does not include food material, biosolids, mixed solid waste, material processes from commingled collection, wood containing lead-based paint or wood preservative, mixed construction or mixed demolition debris. For curbside collection purposes, green waste shall not be longer than three (3) feet or larger than six (6) inches in diameter and must fit in the container utilized by the customer. ... "Yard waste" means green waste discarded from landscapes, whether residential, commercial or industrial, such as leaves, grass clippings, weeds and branches.
Official source re-checked September 7, 2026: no newer edition of the code had been published (publisher’s edition: Code of Ordinances: Supplement 61).
Full Breakdown
Chapter 31, Article II of the Butte County Code defines the material categories its franchised haulers are required to collect. 2 defines "green waste" as "any plant material separated at the point of generation," containing "no greater than one (1) percent of physical contaminants by weight," and lists "yard trimmings, untreated wood wastes, natural fiber products, and construction and demolition wood waste" as examples, while excluding food material, biosolids, and mixed demolition debris. 590 separately defines "yard waste" as "green waste discarded from landscapes, whether residential, commercial or industrial, such as leaves, grass clippings, weeds and branches," tying the household term back to the same regulatory category.
213, and residential customers inside a mandatory service area get weekly organic waste collection under Section 31-35(C)(1). Oversized branches or stumps that exceed the three-foot, six-inch limit fall instead under the "bulky wastes" category and require different arrangements with the hauler rather than routine curbside pickup.
Violations & Fines
Setting out branches or trimmings longer than three feet or thicker than six inches, or piled loose instead of in the provided container, gives the licensed hauler grounds to leave a non-collection notice on the container rather than pick it up, and the material will sit until it is cut down to size or hauled separately as bulky waste.
Frequently Asked Questions
How big can the branches be that I set out for yard waste pickup?
Is "yard waste" the same thing as "green waste" in the county code?
Who is allowed to collect my yard waste?
Sources & Official References
Other rules in Butte County
California rules heatmap·Compare Butte County to another location·View the California trash & recycling overview
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