How to sign up for South Bend's yard waste program and avoid fines for contamination

Jordan Smith, South Bend Tribune
·2 min read

SOUTH BEND — As South Bend begins its annual yard waste program, officials are urging the public to limit contamination of collection bins so that workers can recycle organic materials into free mulch and compost.

In recent years, accepted yard waste has been infused with so much household trash and other banned materials that the Indiana Department of Environmental Management cited the South Bend facility that processes the materials. The city responded by hiring a full-time employee whose job is to sift out the bad stuff, which in the past has included plastic flower pots, glass liquor bottles and a lawn mower.

Yard waste: South Bend creates job to separate trash from yard waste because bins are frequently contaminated

When a bin is contaminated, the city says, an entire truckload of yard waste could go to the landfill instead of being processed at the Organic Resources Facility. In each of the past two years, workers have pulled more than 120 tons of trash from organic materials.

Customers whose bins are contaminated will receive an initial warning. After that, putting banned materials in yard waste bins will result in $10-20 fees on utility bills.

How to sign up for yard waste collection

South Bend residents can sign up for weekly yard waste pickup at southbendin.gov/yardwaste or by calling 311. Collection begins April 1 and lasts through November.

The 2024 rate will rise to $5.50 a month as part of a five-year schedule of increases that began in 2021. The rate next year will rise to $6 a month. The city's actual cost of running the program is $15 a bin per month.

Yard waste is converted into mulch and compost that residents can collect for no additional cost at the Organic Resources Facility at 4340 Trade Dr., just north of the South Bend International Airport.

If you participated in the program last year and have a yard waste bin, you don't need to sign up again.

What is accepted in yard waste bins

  • Leaves, flowers and weeds

  • Grass clippings

  • Twigs and prunings

  • Small branches (less than two inches in diameter)

Residents can request one free extra pickup a month for large loads, measured as up to 10 30-gallon biodegradable yard waste bags or a cubic yard of bundled and tied limbs. Schedule an extra pickup at southbendin.gov/extrapickup.

What is not accepted in yard waste bins

  • Animal waste

  • Dirt and rocks

  • Food waste

  • Household trash

  • Lumber and large tree limbs

  • Oils, liquids and other hazardous waste

  • Plastic bags and recyclable materials

Contact South Bend Tribune city reporter Jordan Smith at JTsmith@gannett.com. Follow him on X: @jordantsmith09

This article originally appeared on South Bend Tribune: South Bend begins yard waste pickup, seeks to curb trash contamination