Pearland, TX Trash & Recycling: Yard Waste Collection (2026)

Pearland treats grass clippings, leaves, small limbs and shrub trimmings as 'green waste' under § 12-16 of the Code of Ordinances, collected once a week alongside recycling and bulk items per § 12-32(a). The ordinance requires green waste to go out in clear plastic bags, or in brown paper sacks, so crews can see what's inside before loading it. Brush too big for the residential garbage cart has to be tied into bundles rather than left loose: § 12-16 caps each bundle at four feet in length and an eighteen-inch diameter, with limbs no thicker than four inches, and every bag, stack, or bundle capped at forty pounds.

Section 12-1 defines 'yard waste' more broadly to include lawn and shrubbery cuttings, dry leaf rakings, small tree branches, and green leaf cuttings, but it specifically excludes large branches, whole trees, and anything too bulky or heavy for two contractor employees to lift safely into the truck; oversized branches and trunks instead fall under the construction and landscape debris rule in § 12-15, which puts the cost of removing tree-trimming or land-clearing debris on whoever hired the contractor or tree service, not the city. Residents may also self-haul yard debris themselves, up to three cubic yards a month, free of charge at the contractor's landfill under § 12-18(b), on presentation of a current utility bill and matching driver's license.