The City of South Bend’s annual yard waste season is underway now through the end of November.

The City of South Bend provided the following information about the program:

The program offers weekly pickup of yard waste, such as grass clippings and leaves, for a fee of $3.50 per month during the season. A 48 or 96-gallon yard waste bin is provided with collection taking place on the same day as trash pickup. Residents can sign up for the yard waste program at southbendin.gov/yardwaste or by calling 311.

Residents are asked to help reduce contamination by only putting grass clippings, leaves, twigs and weeds in the yard waste bins. Items such as animal waste, dirt and rocks, household trash and food waste, lumber, oils, liquids and other hazardous waste, plastic bags and recycling do NOT belong in yard waste bins. When a bin is contaminated, it can cause the entire truckload to be sent to the landfill. Yard waste collected from residents is converted to mulch and compost, which is available free of charge if self-loading at an area outside the City’s Organic Resources facility at 4340 Trade Drive.

To reduce and further prevent contamination in yard waste bins, the City has changed its contamination fees. After the first warning, residents will be charged $10 if contamination is found a second time within the same year. After that, charges will increase by $5, up to a maximum of $20, each time a bin is found to be contaminated in the program year.

The City will also offer an amnesty period during the month of April for its extra yard waste pickups. During the amnesty period, the normal limit of ten 30-gallon biodegradable bags or a cubic yard of tied limbs for a free extra pickup will be waived. Residents, however, will only be able to request one free extra pickup for April. Additional pickup requests for the month will be charged at $10 per cubic yard. To schedule an extra pickup, residents can submit an online request at southbendin.gov/ywextrapickup or call 311.

For extra pickups, residents need to follow these guidelines: 

• All bags must be the brown, biodegradable paper leaf bags and completely void of any trash debris.
• Branches need to be cut to four (4) feet or shorter, be no more than four (4) inches in diameter and bundled securely with twine into manageable bundles.
• All items must be curbside by 6:00 a.m. on trash pickup day.
• Yard waste needs to be away from any cars, containers, mailboxes, trees or any other obstructions. Items cannot be under any powerlines or branches.
• No plastic of any kind will be accepted.

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The City of Mishawaka will provide leaf pick-up services April 18th through April 22nd. Residents can rake leaves to their curbside to be picked up on the day before a resident’s regular trash pick-up day.

Leaves that are raked to the curb must be free of branches, twigs, stones or similar foreign objects which can damage equipment and cause delays.

Residents with questions can call the Mishawaka Central Services office at 574-258-1660.