Champaign, IL Trash & Recycling: Yard Waste Collection (2026)

Section 15-1 of the Champaign Municipal Code defines "landscape waste" as "all accumulations of grass or shrubbery cuttings, leaves, tree limbs and other materials accumulated as the result of the care of lawns, shrubbery, vines and trees," though material that has already been chipped, shredded or composted no longer counts as landscape waste under the chapter. in any street," so raking leaves into the roadway for the wind or rain to carry off is a direct code violation, separate from the general refuse-dumping ban in the same section.

Because Champaign does not run its own municipal yard waste truck, Section 15-52 requires any person or company that collects landscape waste for a fee, or advertises doing so, to hold a valid commercial hauling license issued under Article III of Chapter 15; a lawn or tree care company performing its own removal is exempted from the licensing requirement under Section 15-51. Licensed haulers must use water-tight, covered collection vehicles under Section 15-56(2) and cannot store collected landscape waste anywhere inside the city limits under Section 15-56(3).

Residents who let cut grass, leaves or brush pile up on their property also risk a nuisance citation, since the accumulation provisions of Section 15-18 treat unlawful accumulations of landscape waste, along with ashes, garbage, refuse, rubbish and debris, as a declared nuisance.