Maricopa, AZ Trash & Recycling: Yard Waste Collection (2026)

Chapter 8.05 requires every occupied residential property in the city to have refuse service "through a contracted waste collection permittee" (§ 8.05.020(D)), and separately bars residents from refusing that service (§ 8.05.020(E)). Subsection G carves out specific exceptions to that mandate, opening: "Exceptions to Mandatory Collection. Nothing in this chapter shall prevent the following." The yard-waste carve-out, G(5), reads in full: "The collection, transportation or disposal of lawn, tree and garden trimmings by any person as an incidental part of a landscaping or gardening service by that person, as long as the quantity is less than 10 cubic yards."

That 10-cubic-yard ceiling matches the exemption immediately above it in the same subsection, G(4), which lets anyone haul their own construction and demolition debris without going through the city's contracted hauler, also "as long as the quantity is less than 10 cubic yards." Above that volume, yard debris and construction debris alike fall back under the mandatory-collection scheme and the dumping prohibition in § 8.05.020(C).

The exemption reaches beyond just the collection duty. Chapter 8.15 requires anyone in the business of collecting, transporting or disposing of refuse within the city to hold an annual permit (§ 8.15.010(A)), but § 8.15.010(H) separately exempts haulers who "primarily collect and dispose of or recycle... yard wastes... or any other similar category of solid waste that... constitutes a limited category of waste that the private hauler specializes in collecting" from that permit requirement. Together, the two sections let a landscaper clear a residential yard and haul the trimmings away without a city refuse permit and without routing the load through the homeowner's contracted trash hauler, as long as the volume stays under 10 cubic yards and the hauling is incidental to landscaping work rather than a standalone waste business.