Royal Oak Township, MI Trash & Recycling: Yard Waste Collection (2026)

Two parts of the Charter Township of Royal Oak Code decide what happens to yard debris. Section 22-20(d) covers collection: brush must be cut into lengths not exceeding three feet and tied into bundles that an individual collector can handle, and tree limbs exceeding eight inches in diameter are not collected by the Township and do not belong in a rubbish bundle. Section 22-19 defines brush as tree trimmings and shrubbery trimmings, and its definition of rubbish lists yard clippings. Combustible rubbish is defined to exclude leaves, grass and similar organic matter. Section 22-23 charges the Township Supervisor with providing for the collection and disposal of garbage, rubbish, ashes, leaves and other solid waste on a schedule the Supervisor establishes and publishes in a newspaper circulating within the township.

Burning is not the alternative. Section 10-45, in the open burning article of the fire chapter, prohibits any open burning of fuel, garbage or other combustible refuse or waste material, including leaves, brush, tree trimmings and grass. Section 10-44 defines open burning as a fire from which the products of combustion are emitted directly into the air without passing through a stack or chimney filter. The section carves out two exceptions: charcoal or non-ash-producing fuel on private property used exclusively to prepare food for human consumption, and non-ash-producing fuels used not less than 15 feet from combustible materials or structures for the warmth of workers. Special or occasional open fires are allowed only by resolution after the Township Board determines the fire is not likely to create a hazard or nuisance condition to adjacent property or persons and that its purpose is legitimate. The Board attaches conditions to any permission it grants.

Dumping is also closed off. Section 22-27 makes it unlawful to deposit or throw solid waste in or upon any street, alley or other public place except in the receptacles the article provides, and unlawful to leave it on another person's premises.