Kalamazoo, MI Trash & Recycling: Yard Waste Collection (2026)

Section 31-19 requires that solid waste containing grass clippings, leaves, weeds, hedge or shrub trimmings, ashes, newspapers, waste paper, or other loose or easily scattered material be placed in suitable containers built of galvanized metal, wood fiber, plastic, or other nonrusting material before it is set out for public collection. Newspapers and magazines are exempted from the container rule as long as they are securely tied in bundles. Yard waste must be placed at the curb lawn adjacent to the street, or the gravel shoulder where there is no curb, directly in front of the property that generated it, and never in the traveled roadway or in front of a different property, per § 31-20.

It cannot be set out earlier than 7:00 a.m. the day before the district's regularly scheduled monthly collection, except that Sunday placement cannot begin before 3:00 p.m., under § 31-21, and anything left uncollected must be cleared from public view within two days of that scheduled collection under § 31-22. The owner of the premises, the tenant or person in charge, or the person who deposited the waste is responsible for any violation of these placement rules under § 31-23.