Richland County, SC Trash & Recycling: Yard Waste Collection (2026)

Section 12-21 draws a hard line between ordinary yard waste and construction-scale tree work. Regular yard waste, sticks, hedge clippings and small brush, must be neatly stacked at curbside within six feet of the road, capped at roughly two roll carts' worth (192 gallons), or a pile no bigger than six feet long, three feet wide and two feet high, or six 30-gallon bags; none of it may sit in the traveled roadway, and bagging, boxing or bundling is encouraged. Larger tree branches and heavy brush up to four inches in diameter get their own rule: they must be cut into pieces no longer than four feet and stacked in a neat, compact pile in front of the residence, again clear of the street.

Anything bigger falls outside the definition of yard waste entirely. Tree trunks, branches, and limbs longer than four feet or thicker than four inches are excluded, as is any debris from removing a whole tree (including the stump), from de-limbing a tree that size, or from clearing a lot; cutting oversized wood down to the eligible dimensions afterward does not make it collectible. Dirt, sand and mulch are excluded too, except for the small residual amounts that naturally come with a normal yard-waste pile. Collection is performed by Collection Contractors employed by the County, and only for residential properties and small businesses in residential areas, on the same routes as garbage and recycling pickup.