Fort Collins, CO Trash & Recycling: Yard Waste Collection (2026)

Section 15-414(a) requires each licensed collector to make curbside yard trimmings pickup available to every residential customer, including those on a group account, at least once a week during the growing season, April 1 through November 30. Before September 30, 2024, customers had to request the service; as of that date collectors must enroll each residential customer automatically and instead let the customer decline it. Subsection (b) lets collectors set their own rates for yard trimmings, but bars listing it as a separate line item on bills starting September 30, 2024: the charge folds into the basic service rate unless the customer has opted out entirely.

Subsection (c) controls disposal: collectors cannot commingle yard trimmings with solid waste or recyclable materials, and cannot dump yard trimmings at a landfill; the material must go to a location or facility permitted for yard trimmings recycling, reuse, or composting. "Yard trimmings" covers clippings, wood, branches, leaves, and twigs designated for collection by the City Manager under § 15-416, and the definition sits in § 15-411 alongside the rest of the Solid Waste Collection and Recycling Services article. Because the service now defaults to "on" for every residential account, a resident who never asked for yard waste pickup should still be receiving it in season unless they filed a decline with their hauler.