Yard Waste
Yard Waste and Brush Removal in Brockton, MA
Storm limb wood, whole-tree removals, hedge work and spring garden clearance, run as a clean separate load. Massachusetts banned leaves in 1991 and yard waste in 1992, so vegetative debris never rides with anything else.
Leaves came off the Massachusetts disposal list on 31 December 1991 and yard waste followed on 31 December 1992, which makes them two of the oldest entries on the 310 CMR 19.017 table and among the oldest bans of their kind anywhere in the country. Both apply to all generators, not just to municipalities, and the regulation reaches transfer for disposal as well as disposal itself. The practical consequence for us is simple and absolute: vegetative debris rides as its own clean separate load. Nothing else goes in that box, and nothing green goes in a mixed one. The Massachusetts waste ban guide sets out where it sits on the table.
Brockton does run a kerbside route, and it is worth knowing exactly how it works because it is seasonal and it changes mid-season. From 6 July to 30 October collection is every other week on your recycle day. From 3 November to 12 December it goes weekly. Material has to be loose in 32-gallon barrels or in paper kraft bags, 50 pounds maximum, and branches must be under 4 inches in diameter, bundled, no more than 3 feet long and 35 pounds. The city is explicit that yard waste in plastic bags or Brockton Pay Bags will NOT be picked up. Year-round drop-off is available at the Recycle Depot at 300 Oak Hill Way for residents with proof of residence.
The gap is spring, and it is a wide one. There is no kerbside yard-waste route in Brockton until early July, which is precisely when the frost finally leaves the ground, the storm limb wood from the winter is still lying where it fell and every garden bed in the city needs clearing. Maple, oak, white pine, birch and ash all shed heavily in a nor easter, and a mature white pine will drop more limb wood in one night than a season of bundled kerbside collection could take. That is the window a container actually solves. See the storm cleanup guide for how the season runs.
Green Debris We Haul In Brockton
Storm Limb Wood
Maple, oak, ash and white pine limbs after a nor easter or a wind event. Awkward, heavy at the butt end and far past anything the bundle limits will take.
Whole Tree Removal
Trunk rounds, root ball and canopy from a mature hardwood. The rounds are the weight and the canopy is the volume, so we plan the box around both.
Maple And Oak Crown Work
Routine crown reduction on the big street-side hardwoods. Steady volume that outruns a fortnightly barrel allowance inside a single afternoon of work.
White Pine And Softwood
White pine drops branches heavily in wind and wet snow, and the brush is springy, bulky and refuses to compact, so it eats container volume very quickly.
Spring Garden Clearance
April to June, with no kerbside route running until July. Beds, borders, dead perennials and everything the winter left behind, all at once.
Hedge And Shrub Removal
Overgrown foundation planting and hedging pulled out during a landscape change. Root balls carry soil, which makes them much heavier than the rest of the load.
Leaf Season Overflow
The weekly November route helps, but a lot with several mature hardwoods on it produces far more than 32-gallon barrels at 50 pounds can absorb.
Turf And Border Lift
Lifted turf and old bedding from a garden redesign. Turf carries soil with it, so it is the heaviest thing that ever goes in a green box.
Sizing A Clean Green Load
Brush does not compact, so green loads run out of space long before they run out of weight and the right box is usually larger than people first guess. A 10 yard covers a hedge removal, a heavy pruning day or a leaf-season overflow that the barrels cannot absorb. A 15 yard is the common answer for storm limb wood off one or two mature maples or a white pine, or for a full spring clearance of beds and borders. A 20 yard suits a whole-tree removal where the canopy goes in alongside the trunk rounds, or a lot cleared in one pass. Two things push the answer down instead of up: trunk rounds, which are dense, and lifted turf, which carries soil. Cut limbs down before loading rather than after, because a box packed with full-length branches is mostly air.
10 Yard Dumpster
Concrete, brick, plaster, foundation spoil and wet basement contents — weight fills it long before volume.
View this size →15yd³15 Yard Dumpster
A single room, a small tear-off, or one unit of a two-family turnover.
View this size →20yd³20 Yard Dumpster
A full basement and attic clear-out — the New England default — or a multi-room remodel.
View this size →Why It Rides Separately, And What The City Takes
We keep vegetative debris in a container of its own, and here that is not a preference. Leaves have been off the disposal list since 31 December 1991 and yard waste since 31 December 1992, both for all generators, and the person who generates the waste and the person who hauls it are equally subject to the rules. A green load mixed with fence panels, treated lumber, soil, rock or general rubbish is no longer a green load. So keep those out of it, and keep the brush out of the demolition box in return. The city route runs alongside all this, capped and seasonal: every other week on your recycle day from 6 July to 30 October, weekly from 3 November to 12 December, loose in 32-gallon barrels or paper kraft bags at 50 pounds, branches under 4 inches in diameter, bundled, 3 feet and 35 pounds. The city states that yard waste in plastic bags or Brockton Pay Bags will NOT be picked up, which is the single most common reason a set-out gets left behind. The Recycle Depot at 300 Oak Hill Way takes yard waste year-round from residents with proof of residence, Monday to Saturday 8:30am to 3:00pm, 508-580-7827.
Not sure this is the right service? Describe the job on the phone and we will point you at the right container even if it is a different service page. Call (508) 436-2303.
Get a flat quote
Two minutes on the phone gets you a size, a price and a delivery slot. No forms.
(508) 436-2303Recommended sizes
How it works
Yard Waste & Brush Removal in four steps
- 1
Call us
Tell us the project, your address and when you want it. Two minutes on the phone and you have a flat price.
- 2
We deliver
Our driver walks the drop, lays protection boards and sets the container exactly where you want it.
- 3
You load it
Take your time within your rental window. Keep it level with the top rail and we handle the rest.
- 4
We haul it
Call or text when you are done. We pull it, sort what can be recovered and dispose of the rest properly.
Yard Waste & Brush Removal FAQs
When does Brockton actually collect yard waste at the kerb?
Later than most people assume, and on two different schedules. The summer route runs from 6 July to 30 October, every other week, on your recycle day. The fall route runs from 3 November to 12 December and is weekly. Outside those dates there is no kerbside yard-waste collection at all. Material must be loose in 32-gallon barrels or in paper kraft bags at 50 pounds maximum, and branches have to be under 4 inches in diameter, bundled, no longer than 3 feet and no heavier than 35 pounds. Year-round drop-off is available to residents at the Recycle Depot, 300 Oak Hill Way, Monday to Saturday 8:30am to 3:00pm, with proof of residence. The DPW Refuse Division is on 508-580-7827 and current details are published by the City of Brockton.
Can I put leaves out in plastic bags or in the pay bags?
No, on both counts, and this is the most common reason a pile gets left at the kerb. The city says directly that yard waste in plastic bags or Brockton Pay Bags will NOT be picked up. Yard waste has to be loose in 32-gallon barrels or in paper kraft bags, with a 50 pound limit per container, and branches have to be bundled under 4 inches in diameter, no more than 3 feet long and no more than 35 pounds. The green Brockton pay bags are for overflow household trash beyond the one-barrel weekly allowance, sold at $5 per roll of four, and they are not a yard-waste route. If you have more than the barrels can hold, the Recycle Depot takes yard waste year-round from residents.
It is April and the yard is full of storm wood. What now?
This is the real gap in the local system and it catches people every year. Kerbside yard waste does not start until 6 July, so from the thaw through to midsummer there is no route at the kerb at all, which is exactly the period when winter limb wood is finally reachable and every bed needs clearing. Two options remain. Residents with proof of residence can haul it themselves to the Recycle Depot at 300 Oak Hill Way, Monday to Saturday 8:30am to 3:00pm, which works for a car boot at a time. Or we set a container for a weekend and the whole lot goes at once as a clean green load. Spring is our busiest window for this service for precisely that reason, so call early.
Why does the brush have to go in its own container?
Because leaves and yard waste are on the Massachusetts disposal ban table, and have been for longer than almost anything else on it: leaves since 31 December 1991 and yard waste since 31 December 1992. Both apply to all generators, and the regulation covers transferring material for disposal, not just landfilling it, so the restriction bites at the transfer station. MassDEP is explicit that both the generator and the hauler are subject to the requirements, and receiving facilities run random load inspections every month, writing to both parties within 45 days of a failed load. A clean green load has a composting or processing route. The same brush buried in a demolition box does not, and it puts the whole load at risk.
How big a box for a tree that came down in a storm?
A 15 yard covers limb wood off one or two mature maples or a white pine, which is the usual result of a nor easter here. A whole tree, canopy and trunk rounds together, is generally a 20 yard. The thing that decides it is not the height of the tree but how the material is handled: brush does not compact, so full-length branches load mostly air, and cutting down to length before loading can halve the box you need. Trunk rounds run the other way, being dense enough to matter on weight, so a job that is mostly rounds goes smaller. Send photographs of the pile and we will size it on the phone. Tropical systems reach this far inland roughly once a decade, the last real one being Hurricane Bob in August 1991, but nor easters do this every winter.
More services
Other things we haul
Residential Dumpster Rental
Driveway placement for full-basement, attic, porch and shed cleanouts and remodels.
Learn more →Commercial Dumpster Rental
Containers for businesses and condominiums, which the City does not collect from at all.
Learn more →Construction Dumpster Rental
Jobsite roll-offs routed to a permitted C&D processor, with next-day swap-outs.
Learn more →Roofing Dumpster Rental
Weight-rated cans sized by squares and layers for asphalt shingle tear-offs.
Learn more →Roll-Off Dumpster Rental
10, 15, 20, 30 and 40 yard roll-offs across Brockton and the South Shore.
Learn more →Same-Day Dumpster Rental
Call before the cut-off and we can usually get a container to you this afternoon.
Learn more →Junk Removal Dumpsters
Clear a full basement, attic, porch or shed on your own schedule.
Learn more →Estate Cleanout Dumpsters
Discreet, patient container service for families clearing a lifelong home.
Learn more →Demolition Debris Removal
Containers and fast swaps for porches, decks, sheds, garages and interior gut-outs.
Learn more →Concrete & Heavy Debris
Dedicated heavy cans for concrete, brick, plaster and foundation spoil.
Learn more →Where we deliver
Yard Waste & Brush Removal across Plymouth County and the South Shore
Same service, same flat rates, every town below. Pick yours for local placement and permit notes.
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Need yard waste & brush removal in Brockton?
Tell us what you are clearing out and we will tell you the right size and the flat price to put it in your driveway. No forms, no waiting on an email — just call and we will sort it out in a couple of minutes.
Serving Brockton, Plymouth County and the South Shore · Mon–Fri 6:30am–5pm, Sat 7am–1pm