New Bedford, MA Trash & Recycling: Yard Waste Collection (2026)

Section 16-71 of the New Bedford Code of Ordinances defines yard waste as seasonal leaves, needles, grass clippings, tree trimmings, weeds, hedge clippings, garden material, vine cuttings and wood chips and shavings up to one-quarter inch in diameter, generated from residential yard maintenance; brush is explicitly excluded from that definition. Yard waste must go out in an 'acceptable yard waste container,' meaning paper bags manufactured for that purpose or barrels; the ordinance states plainly that plastic bags are not an acceptable container, and any barrel used must be left behind for pickup rather than emptied and taken away.

Brush is defined separately as tree branches, hedge clippings and vines bundled into units no larger than four feet long, two feet wide and four inches in diameter, and it is collected as a special item rather than with routine trash. Under § 16-74(j) and (k), customers who receive city curbside solid waste collection may set out yard waste and brush only during the applicable collection season and only on the specific day the rules and regulations or the director schedules, and only material actually generated within New Bedford qualifies.

The Department of Facilities and Fleet Management, headed by the director, administers these seasonal schedules and container specifications under § 16-72, while the director of health enforces storage and collection compliance.