Yard Waste Collection to Resume May 4

From the City of Winston-Salem’s Facebook page:

The city will resume yard-waste collections on Monday, May 4. Collections will be made Mondays through Thursdays in keeping with the regular collection schedule, for those households that have yard carts with current collection stickers.

The city suspended collections of yard-waste, brush and bulky items in early April as a precautionary measure to ensure sufficient staffing for garbage collections in the event that a significant number of Sanitation Division employees were unable to work due to COVID-19. However, said City Manager Lee Garrity, “We have been fortunate to only experience minimal staffing disruptions and will be able to move the yard waste personnel back to their normal responsibilities.”

Garrity noted that only yard-waste collection, conducted with automated trucks requiring only a driver, is resuming. “Because brush collection requires three-person crews, it is still suspended,” he said. “Citizens with yard-waste carts can place small brush in their carts and it will be collected.”

Garrity also noted that were there to be an increase in illness among the garbage crews, the city might have to again suspend yard-waste collections.

City of Winston-Salem, NC Government Facebook Page

Yard waste carts can be purchased from the city for $65 per year at the City of Winston-Salem website.

Residents are reminded of the items that are allowed in yard waste carts:

• Garden Residue
• Grass 
• Leaves
• Shrubbery Clippings
• Small Branches
• Sticks

Yard waste cart requirements:

• Carts cannot be overloaded – the lid must be completely closed and cart(s) placed squarely at the curb to be serviced.
• Only 3 carts per residence (150-lb. limit each), are eligible for service.
• Only 96-gallon carts that are compatible with city’s automated collection vehicles will be collected.
• Yard waste is shredded in a tub grinder. Certain materials damage the grinder. Leave the following items out of your cart:
  • Animal Waste
  • Bags
  • Boxes
  • Construction Material
  • Dirt
  • Garbage
  • Large Branches
  • Rocks
  • Stumps