St. Charles residents to get two weeks of free yard waste collection

St. Charles residents can get a jump on spring yard clean up this year.

For two weeks, March 18 and 25, the city's refuse contractor Lakeshore Recycling Systems Inc. will pick up bagged yard waste on normal refuse collection days for free - no sticker required.

Place twigs, trimmings, leaves, etc. in a generic Kraft paper yard waste bag and put the bag out on the curb for pick up. No sticker needed.

Then, beginning April 1, regular yard waste collection will begin and stickers will be required.

"We know this winter's snow, ice and wind have been hard on limbs and branches," said Tim Wilson, St. Charles Environmental Services Manager. "These two free collections will help residents clear their yards of smaller branches and twigs that came down this winter."

Also, there has been a change in when containers can be placed on the curb.

The St. Charles City Council approved extending the time residents can put their refuse and recycling containers out at the curb. Now containers can be put out anytime the day before the regularly scheduled pickup. As always, make sure containers are out by 6:30 a.m. on collection day, and removed by 8 p.m. that same day.