7 Steps To Get Rid of Your Yard Waste in New Orleans

With the responsibility and consequences of homeownership, it’s a blessing to have the “decorum” of running your life and home privately.

Yard waste disposal is a dirty, time-consuming job. Let’s face it, no one wants to mow their lawn and then chop up all the grass clippings or leaves and haul them to the curb for pickup.

Fall is here and it’s time to deal with all the yard waste that may have accumulated during the summer.

From grass clippings to fallen leaves and the occasional tree limb, most homeowners will have no shortage of yard waste to deal with as fall begins, particularly as trees start shedding their leaves.

Yard waste, such as leaves, grass clippings, and branches, can be a hassle to dispose of, especially in a city like New Orleans. However, the city provides several options for residents to properly dispose of their yard waste.

One option is to take yard waste to the New Orleans City Dump, also known as the Agriculture Street Landfill. This landfill accepts yard waste, as well as other types of waste, and is open to the public for drop-off. The landfill also offers a recycling program for certain materials such as metal, appliances and electronics.

Additionally, residents can also drop off their yard waste at designated sites around the city. These sites are typically open on weekends and accept a variety of yard waste materials such as leaves, grass clippings, and branches.

It’s important to note that while disposing of yard waste in landfills, it will not decompose as it would in nature, instead it will add to the volume of the landfill, which is not an environmentally friendly way. A better solution is to compost the yard waste, which can be used as a soil amendment for gardening or landscaping.

New Orleans residents have several options for disposing of yard waste, including taking it to the New Orleans City Dump or Agriculture Street Landfill, participating in the City’s curbside pickup program, or dropping it off at designated sites around the city. Additionally, composting is a more environmentally friendly way to dispose of yard waste.

Efficiently Disposing of Yard Waste in New Orleans: A 7-Step Guide

1. Hire a Professional

If you don’t have time or the inclination to spend time on lawn care yourself, then it’s highly recommended that you find a pro who will. The best way to do this is to get referrals from friends and family or search for one online. Mowing the lawn is hard work.

Maintaining the lawn requires proper care, and if you are a homeowner, that’s your responsibility. Having someone else do it for you can be expensive, and this is where we come in.

Our lawn maintenance and lawn care services can take care of all of your yard needs – lawn mowing, edging, weeding, trimming, leaf removal services, junk removal projects, yard clean up– whatever it is.

Tree service professionals are qualified to handle dangerous tasks that involve heights, such as tree limb removal. If you’re thinking of having your trees pruned, it’s best to leave the job up to these professionals.

2. Recycle Yard Waste

There are plenty of reasons why people would instead handle the upkeep of their yard. If you’re more of a hands-on kind of person, you may not want to pay someone else to do it.

And if you enjoy being outdoors, spending time in your yard might be something that makes you happy.

Yard waste is an excellent asset to the environment. It can be used to improve the soil and make compost or processed into a handy, renewable energy source.

However, many people still dump it in the trash because they don’t know how to get rid of it properly.

3. Grass clippings

Fall is the time of year when people are supposed to cut their grass, but if you don’t have time to tackle this task, it’s not a problem.

If it’s the time of year that your lawn needs to be trimmed, you may find yourself confused about how often and how long you need to trim your lawn.

Uses for grass clippings:

• Adding organic matter to the soil will help your plants grow healthy and strong. You can add a variety of organic materials to your soil, but one of the most common is compost. Compost is composed primarily of decayed plants and their wastes. It helps the soil retain water while also providing necessary nutrients for your plants.
• Grass clippings are great additions to compost. You can use fresh or dried grass clippings depending on if you want to build up your pile quicker or make it stronger.
• They can be mixed with potting soil to make compost or just laid on the surface as mulch. Which one you use depends on what your plants need.
• The clippings can also help create a weed barrier.

4. Fall leaves

After putting on their annual, multicolored display, trees begin the seemingly endless process of shedding their leaves throughout fall and winter.

In addition to spending forever and a day raking, bagging, and putting leaves out for pickup, leaves also have benefits. Just like grass clippings.

Uses for fall leaves:

• Compost needs a balance of various materials and so adding in some “brown” material like leaves, cardboard, and twigs is a good idea.
• When you mow the lawn, all of the clippings that come off can be used as an organic mulch.
• Leaves left on the lawn need to be either composted or turned into mulch or they can inhibit weed growth.
• When a leaf falls on your lawn, it becomes leaf mold, improving the quality of the soil.
• A variety of Fall arts and crafts involve brown and orange leaves.

If you have a lot of trees in or near your yard, you likely don’t need to go looking for leaves.

The number of leaves on a tree is inexplicably huge and it’s more than enough to fill all the needs of the uses we mentioned earlier.

5. Tree Limbs

Although most homeowners would rather avoid yard work, there are a few things they need to know.

For example, in addition to grass and leaves, homeowners may occasionally have to deal with fallen limbs or perform some preemptive pruning.

If you have a professional handle your trees, they often provide disposal services for the debris.

Tree limbs and branches are the part of a tree that typically falls to the ground.

They are not as versatile as other yard waste like leaves, but they can be used in several ways.

They can be used to make firewood and kindling or made into decorations, or used as wood chips.

6. Haul It Away

If you don’t want to get your hands dirty and just want yard waste taken away, contact your local garbage disposal service.

Get in touch to find out if they recycle yard waste -most local governments have strict regulations on this!

Things to ask your municipal waste removal service:

• What is the average cost of yard waste pickup?
• What’s the limit on how many can be picked up?
• Where does my trash go?
• Can you tell me what time and how often the pickups are?
• What do I need to prepare before the garbage truck comes?

7. Avoid Burning Yard Waste

If you’re thinking about burning your yard waste, don’t. It can release exhaust and other harmful pollutants into the air. Burning it can also pose a fire risk, a big concern for homeowners.

You can’t just go ahead and burn your yard waste without following local regulations or taking any preventive measures.

Please take time to check what’s allowed in your area and implement safe practices to protect yourself before lighting the fire.

The Bottom Line

Yard waste is no picnic, but it can be a good thing. While dealing with it is a hassle for any homeowner, the components of yard waste have many advantages and features that many don’t know about.

If you’re a gardener in the home, you should take advantage of these useful products. Your garden and lawn will surely benefit from them.

Besides, all that hard work deserves something good from time to time!

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Big Easy Demolition is a licensed and insured company providing demolition services for both homes and businesses.

We are the leading demolition and debris removal service company in the New Orleans areas.

We proudly serve the areas of Metairie, Slidell, New Orleans, Kenner, Laplace, and all throughout the Greater New Orleans area. Contact us today for more information.