Norfolk, VA Trash & Recycling: Yard Waste Collection (2026)

Sec. 41-35 requires anyone receiving city solid waste service to identify and separately package yard waste, material from trees, leaves, fallen branches, shrubbery, plants and lawn trimmings, rather than mixing it with regular trash. Clear, not opaque, plastic bags are required if bagging, or the material can go into a securely tied bundle no more than four feet long and eighteen inches in diameter, weighing no more than 75 pounds, or into a dedicated yard waste container capped at 30 gallons. The city caps what it collects at each address per collection day: no more than twenty bundles, twenty clear bags, or three cubic yards total, except with special authorization from the director of public works.

Whole trees and limbs thicker than six inches in diameter are excluded from routine city pickup entirely and won't be collected unless the director specifically authorizes it. Anything beyond these limits, or the pickup of trees and heavy limbs, goes to a private collector under contract with the city, billed to the owner or tenant at the contractual rate. The director of public works can waive the volume limits in special circumstances or after a natural disaster. Yard waste can only go out on the days the city designates for yard waste pickup, cannot obstruct vehicular or pedestrian traffic, and customers who use a private hauler instead of city service must arrange their own yard waste removal at no cost to the city.