Lafayette, LA Trash & Recycling: Yard Waste Collection (2026)

Lafayette treats yard waste as its own stream inside the solid waste code, with its own container specification and setout choreography. Sec. 74-1 defines a container for yard waste as a plastic, metal, or fiberglass receptacle of more than 20 but less than 35 gallons, fitted with lifting handles and a mouth at least as wide as its base, with a 50-pound cap on the container and its contents combined. Sec. 74-32(a) requires every container, for solid waste, yard waste, or recyclables, to be kept free of holes, washed as needed, and set out within three feet of where the street meets the property line.

Owners on sloped lots may leave the container in the street itself, and rural residents outside a subdivision only need to pull it back ten feet, but everyone else must return the container to within three feet of the home within 24 hours of the truck emptying it. Miss that window and public works can charge $25 per container per violation, up to $150 a calendar year, though no charge attaches until the owner has already received one written notice. Collection itself is confined to the window set by Sec.

, unless the LCG director of public works approves longer hours. Sec. 74-37 bars setting out yard waste that isn't covered by the current LCG collection contract; the owner must haul that material away at his own expense instead. And only LCG's authorized agents, contractors, or employees may pick up yard waste from the curb, Sec. 74-42 makes unauthorized collection unlawful, though a resident already paying for weekly service may still hire a separate hauler for material outside the standard contract.