Greenville, NC Trash & Recycling: Yard Waste Collection (2026)
Key Facts
- Limb length limit
- Cut to 6 feet or less
- Separation required
- Limbs, shrubbery and fine debris in separate piles
- Fine debris
- Leaves, grass, pine straw piled together
- Ditch dumping
- Banned for all yard debris, § 6-3-7(C)
- Governing section
- Greenville City Code § 6-3-7(A)
Summary
Tree limbs, cuttings, shrubbery and hedges have to be cut to six-foot lengths and piled separately from fine yard debris like leaves, grass and pine straw at the curb for Greenville pickup. Loads bigger than half a truckload are hauled once trucks and crews are available, not on a fixed weekly run.
(A) Tree limbs, cuttings, shrubbery, and the like of more than one-half load will be hauled at such time as trucks and personnel are available. Limbs, cuttings, shrubbery, and the like must be cut in six-foot lengths or less and placed directly behind the curb or the traveled portion of the street upon the owner or tenant’s property in an accessible location for collection. Tree limbs, cuttings, shrubbery, fine vegetation, debris, and junk shall be separated from each other as follows for collection: (1) Cuttings, shrubbery, and hedges shall be placed together at curbside for collection. Limbs should be placed in separate piles at curbside for collection. (2) Fine vegetation such as leaves, grass, and pine straw shall be placed together at the curbside for collection.
Full Breakdown
Section 6-3-7(A) governs yard debris collection: limbs, cuttings and shrubbery are hauled once trucks and personnel are available when a load runs to more than half a truckload, and everything has to be cut to six-foot lengths or less and set directly behind the curb, on the owner's or tenant's property, in a spot the crew can reach. The code requires separating yard waste by type rather than piling it all together: subsection (A)(1) puts cuttings, shrubbery and hedges in one curbside pile, with limbs kept in a separate pile of their own, while subsection (A)(2) requires fine vegetation, meaning leaves, grass clippings and pine straw, to be piled together apart from the woodier material.
That separation lets Public Works route different equipment, a claw truck for limbs versus a vacuum leaf truck for fine debris, without sorting material by hand at the curb. The same section bars putting any of that yard waste in the gutter or on the public street itself under subsection (A)(4), and subsection (C) separately makes it unlawful to dump limbs, cuttings, leaves, shrubbery or lawn clippings into any city-owned or city-maintained drainage ditch, since yard debris in a ditch is a drainage and flooding hazard, not just a litter problem.
Violations & Fines
Mixing limbs, shrubbery and fine vegetation into a single pile instead of separating them under § 6-3-7(A)(1)-(2) can mean a delayed or skipped pickup, since city crews route different equipment to each pile type. Dumping leaves, grass clippings or limbs into a city-owned or -maintained drainage ditch violates § 6-3-7(C), and placing yard debris in the gutter or street violates subsection (A)(4); both expose the resident to the same civil enforcement path Public Works uses elsewhere in Chapter 3.
Frequently Asked Questions
Do I need to separate leaves from tree limbs for pickup?
How long can tree limbs be for curbside collection?
Can I rake leaves into the street gutter for pickup?
Sources & Official References
Other rules in Greenville
Compare Greenville to another location·View the North Carolina trash & recycling overview
See something wrong?
Help us keep this page accurate. If you notice an error or outdated information, let us know.