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

Sec. 9-1 defines yard waste as cut grass and weeds, fallen leaves, branches and vines, and cut tree limbs, but only if the limbs do not exceed four feet in length or four inches in diameter and weigh less than 50 pounds; anything larger will not be collected by the city. Fallen leaves and, to the maximum extent possible, small limbs and vines must go in plastic bags, and yard waste must be kept completely separate from other municipal solid waste to allow separate collection.

Yard trash containers such as burlap sacks, plastic bins or galvanized cans may not hold a combined weight of trash and container over 50 pounds. Debris from initial lot clearing or building operations is excluded from city collection, and the property owner must remove it at his own expense. Sec. 9-5 requires yard waste to sit in its own distinct curbside pile, separate from garbage, trash and white goods, or nothing gets picked up until the piles are separated. Sec. 9-15, 'Yard waste commercially cut,' closes off a separate loophole: every nursery operator, tree surgeon, or independent contractor who cuts or trims trees or shrubs for a customer must remove all resulting yard waste from the serviced premises themselves, and it is unlawful for them to instead dump that debris anywhere for city collection.