Shoreline, WA Trash & Recycling: Yard Waste Collection (2026)

Shoreline Municipal Code § 13.14.180 sets the yard debris program run through the city's authorized collection company. Residents may set out debris in a 32-, 64- or 96-gallon cart, and extra volume can go in biodegradable paper bags marketed specifically for yard debris; plastic bags are prohibited outright. Overflow limbs and brush must be bundled no larger than two feet by two feet by four feet and tied with biodegradable string or twine, and no individual limb may exceed four inches in diameter or four feet in length.

Food scraps and compostable paper are allowed in the same cart alongside yard debris. The program is limited to material generated at the dwelling unit itself; debris hauled in from elsewhere is not eligible for curbside collection. "Yard debris" carries its own definition at SMC § 13.14.010, so items outside that definition, including construction debris or dirt and rock, do not qualify for the cart program. Because the section only lists what may go in the cart rather than a standalone fine, noncompliant material, such as yard waste bagged in plastic or oversized limbs, is simply left uncollected by the hauler rather than picked up.

If it then piles up on the property instead of being removed, it falls under the broader accumulation-of-waste rule in SMC § 13.14.230, which the code enforces as a civil infraction.