Indianapolis has several places to send yard waste, and the right one depends on what is in the pile and how big it is. For homes on City of Indianapolis trash pickup, small amounts of grass, leaves and twigs can go in the trash cart if they are bagged or bundled and the lid still closes. Bundled limbs wait for heavy trash day. A truckload goes to a drop-off that turns it into mulch or compost, and Indiana law keeps landscaping waste out of landfills, with a few exceptions.
Below, we walk through each route, what GreenCycle charges at its Troy Avenue site, and the point where a pile calls for junk removal in Indianapolis instead.
Backyard junk piling up in Indianapolis?
Veteran owned. We own a skid steer, so we can take down a shed, a garage or a hot tub. The crew gives you the price on site, with no obligation.
Where Can Indianapolis Residents Dispose of Yard Waste and Brush?
It depends on the size of the pile. For homes on City trash pickup, the City of Indianapolis Trash 101 page and its leaf collection and composting pages list these routes:
- Your trash cart, for small amounts of yard waste that are bagged or bundled and fit inside with the lid closed.
- Heavy trash day, once a month, for bundled limbs set out at the curb.
- Fall leaf collection, when bags of leaves go out with your regular trash.
- Your own yard, where the City suggests a home compost pile or mowing leaves in place.
Beyond those, the same pages point to drop-offs. GreenCycle is a mulch and compost company with an Indianapolis site on Troy Avenue that charges by vehicle. South Side Landfill’s FAQ lists brush, grass clippings and yard trimmings among the materials it accepts and notes that they are sent to its compost area.
The City also lists Citizens’ Transfer Station for bags of leaves. Its hours, fees and the area’s other drop-off sites are in our Indianapolis dump and transfer station directory.
Why Does Indiana Law Keep Yard Waste You Dispose of Out of Landfills?
Indiana Code 13-20-9 says a person “may not knowingly deposit vegetative matter resulting from landscaping maintenance and land clearing projects in a solid waste landfill.” The state’s environmental agency explains the payoff. On its yard waste and composting page, the Indiana Department of Environmental Management (IDEM) says diverting yard waste from landfills saves landfill space, reduces the methane that forms when organic waste breaks down in a landfill’s oxygen-free environment, reduces the need for chemical fertilizers, and makes good use of waste that is relatively clean and biodegradable. It encourages composting instead.
IDEM’s page says leaves, brush, and woody material such as twigs, branches and tree stumps greater than 3 feet in length are subject to the ban. Section 1 of the chapter says it does not apply to grass, to woody material less than 3 feet long that is bagged, bundled or otherwise contained, or to small amounts of yard waste under 3 feet that are bagged, bundled or otherwise contained and not set out separately for collection and disposal. Section 1 also exempts composted yard waste used as landfill cover. Section 4 lets a county executive, by resolution or order, waive the ban for not more than 90 days, under a condition that Indiana Code 13-11-2-64 defines for that section: widespread or severe damage or loss of property from a natural or manmade cause, such as fire, flood, wind or storm.
What Does It Cost for Indianapolis Homeowners to Dispose of Brush at GreenCycle?
GreenCycle’s Waste Drop-off + Recycling page, as we read it on October 1, 2026, lists these rates for its Indianapolis site: $35 to tip brush, leaves or mixed yard waste from a pickup, and $80 from a pickup with a trailer. Those are GreenCycle’s published fees, not our price. The page says charges are based on vehicle type regardless of load size, so a half-full bed costs the same as a full one.
A fuel surcharge comes on top. GreenCycle calls it temporary, and the page lists three changes to it since it began at $10.00 on March 23, 2026. GreenCycle’s latest update, dated September 14, 2026, puts the surcharge at $15 when you tip material. With the surcharge moving that often, call the Indianapolis site at 317.780.8175 before you load.
What Can’t You Dispose of at an Indianapolis Yard Waste Drop Off?
GreenCycle’s drop-off page lists what it recycles as brush, logs, leaves, grass, mixed yard waste, pallets and dimensional lumber. It also says it does not accept materials contaminated with plastics, trash, or painted or treated wood. During yard cleanup, that rules out:
- Leaves still in plastic bags. The City’s leaf collection page notes that GreenCycle does not accept plastic bags.
- Trash mixed into the brush, such as plastic pots or a torn tarp.
- Old deck boards, fence pickets or landscape timbers that are painted or treated.
Sort the pile at home, before it goes in the truck.
Can Leaves and Grass Go Out With Trash in Indianapolis, or Must You Dispose of Them Separately?
Yes, within limits. The City’s Trash 101 page says you can put small amounts of yard waste, including small twigs, leaves and grass, in your regular trash as long as it is bagged or bundled and fits inside the cart with the lid closed. Loose yard waste, or yard waste that does not fit inside the cart, cannot go in it.
The new gray carts seem to say otherwise. When homes served by private haulers swapped carts ahead of the City’s 2026 hauler change, IndyStar reported on November 14, 2025, that many people had criticized a warning on the lid not to throw away any yard waste. A Department of Public Works spokesman told the paper that nothing had changed about what the City accepts, and that because most of the City’s trash is burned, its main issue with yard waste is that large chunks of wood could damage trash trucks. So branches stay out, and a small bag that fits with the lid closed can go in.
Fall adds a second route. During the City’s leaf collection season, you can set out 40 bags of leaves each week with your regular trash. The City’s Leaf Collection Season page still listed the 2025 season, November 10 to December 5, when we read it on October 1, 2026, so check it for this year’s dates. Its set-out rules:
- Use large plastic trash bags. The City asks residents not to use paper bags, which deteriorate and fall apart in wet weather.
- Put the bags on the street by 7 a.m. on your collection day.
- Keep them 3 to 5 feet away from your cart collection area and out of sidewalks and public rights-of-way.
- Never rake leaves into the street.
Outside the season, the same page says bags of leaves can go inside your cart, but bags left outside the cart will not be picked up, and leaves should never go in the cart loose. The Leaf Collection Season page also offers a way to skip the bags: set your mower to around 3 inches, mow right over the leaves, and let the clippings lie where they are.
No truck for the dump run in Indianapolis?
Veteran owned, with two trucks and two crew on each. You get the price on site, and you pay when the job is done.
How Do Indianapolis Homeowners Bundle Limbs to Haul Without a Rejected Load?
For City pickup, Trash 101 says bundled limbs 3 feet in diameter and 3 feet long count as one heavy trash item. The City’s heavy trash collection article on its IndyKnowledge help site, dated December 21, 2020, sets out the rest:
- Heavy trash is limited to two items, once a month, on your designated heavy trash day. Setting out more than two items may result in your home not being serviced for heavy trash pickup.
- Have your items set out by 7 a.m. in your trash pickup area.
- Do not bag or box heavy trash items.
- Keep them at least 3 to 5 feet away from your trash cart so the cart can be serviced.
- Do not lean them against your cart or any other object or structure. Items that lean may not be serviced.
If something is not set out right, the article says your service provider leaves a tag explaining how to meet the pickup requirements. Neither page sets a rule for what to tie a bundle with or how heavy it can be. The rest of the monthly pickup, including what the City will not take, is in our Indianapolis heavy trash schedule and limits guide.
If you haul the load yourself, what is in it matters more than how it is tied. GreenCycle’s pages set no bundling rule, but they price by vehicle and refuse contaminated material, so a tidy bundle with a plastic pot buried inside is still a load GreenCycle says it does not accept.
How Can You Get Rid of Branches for Free Around Indianapolis?
For homes on City trash pickup, heavy trash day is the closest thing to free. The City’s trash cart transition FAQs say residents get once-a-month heavy trash collection through a combination of property taxes and the solid waste user fee, so a bundle of limbs costs nothing beyond what you already pay, as long as it fits within your two heavy trash items that month.
The other no-cost route is to keep some of the branches. On r/indianapolis, one commenter recommended a stick pile at the edge of the yard for birds and insects, and another recommended keeping at least some in a corner of the lawn, for pollinators and lightning bugs, if you have no HOA and not a lot of yard waste.
What we could not find is a free, year-round public brush drop-off for Indianapolis homes. GreenCycle and South Side Landfill both publish fees.
When Is a Brush Pile Too Big to Haul to a Drop Off Yourself?
No rule draws that line, but a few signs make it plain:
- It would take months of heavy trash days. At the two heavy trash items a month that Trash 101 allows, a big pile turns into a long project.
- It needs more than one load. GreenCycle charges by vehicle, so every extra trip adds another fee and another fuel surcharge.
- The wood is big. GreenCycle’s Indianapolis rates put large wood, which its table labels as over 24 inches, above brush for every vehicle type.
- The hours do not fit. GreenCycle’s drop-off page lists hours of 8 a.m. to 5 p.m. on weekdays, Saturday mornings from March through September only, and no Sunday hours. One r/indianapolis poster called those “banker’s hours.”
- There is no truck. Another poster had a pile of sticks, no truck to get them to GreenCycle and too much to put in the trash.
As for a rented dumpster, whether one can take brush depends on where the company tips it, since Indiana Code 13-20-9 keeps landscaping waste out of landfills outside its exceptions. That is the rental company’s question to answer.
When a pile is past all of that, that is the point to call a crew. Our junk removal crews cover the I-65 corridor from Columbus to Indianapolis to Bloomington, with same-day and next-day service. The crew sizes up the load on site and gives you the price there. No obligation, and you pay when the job is done. How that compares on cost with renting a truck and making the trips yourself is in our guide to what is and is not free in Indianapolis junk removal.
Quick Recap
- For homes on City trash pickup, Trash 101 says small amounts of grass, leaves and twigs can go in your cart if they are bagged or bundled and the lid closes. Loose yard waste and anything that does not fit cannot.
- Trash 101 counts a bundle of limbs 3 feet in diameter and 3 feet long as one of the two heavy trash items a home can set out each month.
- During the City’s leaf collection season, 40 bags of leaves a week can go out with your regular trash. Confirm the 2026 dates before you rake.
- On October 1, 2026, GreenCycle listed $35 from a pickup and $80 from a pickup with a trailer for brush, leaves or mixed yard waste in Indianapolis, plus a $15 fuel surcharge when you tip, per its update of September 14, 2026. Those are GreenCycle’s fees, not ours.
- Keep plastic bags, trash and painted or treated wood out of a GreenCycle load.
- Indiana Code 13-20-9 keeps landscaping waste out of landfills, with exceptions that include grass and woody waste under 3 feet that is bagged or bundled.
- A pile that would take months of heavy trash days or more than one load is the point to call a crew.
