Lower Merion, PA Trash & Recycling: Yard Waste Collection (2026)

Section 82-13.1.G(3) requires leaf waste to be placed at the curbline, distinct from the general five-foot-from-cartway rule that applies to other municipal waste under § 82-13.1.G(1). Section 82-13.1.H(4) then sets the container and bundling rules: leaf waste must go into biodegradable bags available from the Township, paper shopping bags, or nondisposable containers no larger than 45 gallons; branches may instead be cut to lengths of no more than four feet and tied into bundles no more than 18 inches in diameter; and garden waste cannot be allowed to protrude from whatever container holds it.

Grass clippings get a different treatment: § 82-13.1.H(5) classifies them as ordinary municipal solid waste, so they belong in standard refuse containers for collection with other trash rather than in leaf-waste bags or bundled with branches. On the collection side, § 82-13.1.E(1) runs leaf waste on the same once-a-week schedule as nonrecycled municipal waste, separate from the biweekly recyclables and newspaper pickup, and collection on every route begins at 7:00 a.m. under § 82-13.1.E(2). Residents not on the Township's collection service still have a separate-and-set-aside obligation for leaf waste under § 82-6.D(1), which lists leaf waste first among the recyclable categories self-haul households must keep apart from their regular trash.