Rochester Hills, MI Trash & Recycling: Yard Waste Collection (2026)

Section 86-30(4) of the Rochester Hills Code requires yard clippings, defined in section 86-26 as leaves, grass clippings, vegetables, garden debris, shrubbery, and brush or tree trimmings under four feet long and two inches in diameter, to be site-separated from other waste and kept from commingling with solid waste or recyclable materials. Section 86-31(3) and (4) govern disposal preparation: clippings must be removed from the site of generation at least weekly, or before they become a nuisance or danger to public health, safety or welfare, unless the resident composts them on-site.

Removal can be handled by a licensed waste hauler or by a person engaged in the business of providing landscaping services, not just the city's designated hauler. Twigs, brush and branches up to three inches in diameter must be tied into bundles no more than four feet long and 18 inches in diameter; anything else has to go into a container or a paper bag clearly marked as yard clippings. Stumps, roots, agricultural waste, animal waste, sewage and sludge fall outside the yard clippings definition entirely and are not covered by these bundling rules.

Once bundled or bagged clippings reach curbside, section 86-31(6)(a) limits how long they may sit there to 24 hours, and section 86-28 makes them the property of whichever hauler collects them, closing off scavenging of bundled brush the same as trash or recyclables.