Brush and Yard Waste Hauling in Plymouth, MN

What brush and yard waste hauling in Plymouth, MN typically covers

Brush hauling means taking away plant material that is already cut and on the ground: branches, limbs, prunings, shrub trimmings, and the pile that builds up behind the garage over a season or two of yard work. It is the job that is left over after the cutting is done, and in Plymouth it usually arrives as one of four situations:

• The pile that outgrew the cart. A curbside yard waste cart or a stack of paper bags handles leaves and clippings. It does not handle a hedge that came out, a row of overgrown shrubs, or a winter’s worth of fallen limbs. Once the pile is bigger than a few bundles, it is a hauling job.
• After a storm. Wind and heavy snow bring limbs down across the yard, onto the fence or into the driveway. The cleanup is urgent and the volume is hard to guess until it is all in one place.
• After a tree service or a landscaper. Plenty of tree and landscape crews quote the cutting and leave the debris, or quote the haul-away as an extra. If the brush is already down and stacked, it can be hauled separately.
• A property being cleared or sold. A back lot that was left to grow, a fence line full of buckthorn, or a yard that has to look finished before a showing or a closing date.

All four are about material that is already cut. That boundary matters, and it is the next section.

What is not included: taking down a standing tree

Cutting down a standing tree is tree service work, and nothing on this site offers it. Felling a tree, climbing it, removing a hanging limb that is still attached, or taking down a tree near a house or a power line needs a tree service with its own equipment, training and insurance. Grinding a stump is the same.

The order that works is simple: book the tree work first, have the cut material left on the ground, then send a request for the haul. If you are not sure whether a job is cutting or hauling, describe it when you send the request and we will tell you which trade it belongs to rather than passing it on.

Limbs touching a power line are never a hauling job. Leave them alone and call the electric utility.

What gets hauled

• Cut branches and limbs, loose or bundled
• Prunings and shrub trimmings, including hedges and whole shrubs that have been dug out
• Storm debris: fallen limbs, broken tops that are already on the ground, and snapped branches
• Leaves, grass clippings and garden waste when they are part of a larger cleanup
• Buckthorn and other invasive brush that has been cut (see the rules below before it moves)
• Logs and rounds from a tree that has already been taken down, within what the crew can lift and load
• Old landscape material alongside the brush, such as a rotted planter, broken edging or a pile of old timbers, when it is said up front, because that part is not yard waste and goes somewhere else

Say roughly how much there is. “A pickup load”, “a pile about the size of a car” and “the whole back fence line” are all useful answers.

Where yard waste has to go under Minnesota law

This is the part most people do not expect, and it shapes the whole job.

Yard waste cannot go in the trash or to a landfill in the Twin Cities metro. Minnesota law has barred anyone from putting yard waste in mixed municipal solid waste or in a disposal facility in the metropolitan area since 1 January 1990. It may go into a resource recovery facility only for reuse, composting or cocomposting. Source: Minn. Stat. § 115A.931, read 23 September 2026. Hennepin County says the same thing in plain terms: it is illegal to put yard and tree waste in the garbage. Source: Hennepin County, Yard and tree waste, read 23 September 2026.

Brush counts as yard waste. The statute’s definition covers garden wastes, leaves, lawn cuttings, weeds, shrub and tree waste, and prunings. Source: Minn. Stat. § 115A.03, subd. 38, read 23 September 2026. So a load of cut brush is bound for a compost or wood waste site by law, whoever hauls it.

Bags have a rule too. Yard waste generated in a metropolitan county may not be put in a plastic bag unless the bag meets the ASTM D6400 compostable standard, with an exception for someone who empties the bag at a transfer station or compost site and takes the bag away. Hennepin is one of the seven metropolitan counties. Sources: Minn. Stat. § 115A.931 paragraphs (c) and (d), and Minn. Stat. § 473.121, subd. 4, both read 23 September 2026. In practice: paper yard waste bags or certified compostable bags, or no bags at all for brush.

Hennepin County does not run a yard waste drop-off, and its own drop-off facilities in Bloomington and Brooklyn Park do not take yard and tree waste. For residents who want to take a load themselves, the county lists a yard waste site at 14900 23rd Avenue North, Plymouth, open April to November for Plymouth, Medicine Lake, Wayzata and Long Lake residents only, phone 763-509-5940. Call before you load the trailer to confirm what it takes and what it asks for at the gate. Sources: Hennepin County, Yard and tree waste disposal and the yard and tree waste page above, both read 23 September 2026.

That site is the right answer for a few bags and a car trunk of branches. A pile that needs a trailer, several trips, or a crew to drag it out from behind the house is where a hauling request makes sense.

Three Minnesota rules that decide how some brush can move

Most brush is just brush. Three kinds are not, and it is worth knowing which one you have before the pile leaves the yard.

Ash wood and the emerald ash borer quarantine. The Minnesota Department of Agriculture regulates ash logs, ash tree waste, ash chips and mulch, and all non-coniferous firewood in counties under its emerald ash borer quarantine. Those materials may not be moved out of a quarantined area, treated or untreated, unless they travel with an MDA certificate. Source: Minnesota Department of Agriculture, Emerald ash borer quarantine, read 23 September 2026. Hennepin County advises that ash tree waste be taken to the closest disposal site to limit the spread. Source: the county yard and tree waste disposal page above. In practice: keep ash brush local, and do not carry it off as firewood without checking the MDA quarantine map first. If you know the pile is ash, say so when you send the request.

Oak wilt and the pruning calendar. The Minnesota DNR’s guidance is not to prune oak trees from April to July. Source: Minnesota DNR, Oak wilt, read 23 September 2026. This is about when the cutting happens rather than the hauling, but it is why an oak trimming job in a lot of Plymouth yards is better booked for late fall or winter, with the haul right after it. If an oak on your lot has already died of oak wilt, ask the tree service how the wood should be handled before anything is moved; that decision belongs to them.

Buckthorn is a restricted noxious weed. Common buckthorn and glossy buckthorn are both on Minnesota’s restricted noxious weed list, a category whose propagating parts may not be imported, sold or transported in Minnesota except by permit. Source: Minnesota Department of Agriculture, Minnesota noxious weed list, read 23 September 2026. Buckthorn is one of the most common things cleared out of Plymouth fence lines and wooded lot edges, so ask the provider how they handle buckthorn that is carrying berries. Cutting it before it fruits, where you have the choice, keeps the question simple.

Access and staging around Plymouth

Brush is light for its size, which makes it deceptive. A pile that looks small from the deck can fill a trailer twice, and the hard part of the job is often getting it from the back of the lot to the truck. Tell whoever quotes the job:

• Where the pile is. At the curb, on the driveway, beside the garage, or at the back of the yard behind a fence or a gate. A gate narrower than a wheelbarrow changes the job.
• How it is cut. Branches cut to manageable lengths load quickly. Whole shrubs with the root balls on, long limbs and tangled storm debris take longer.
• The ground. Soft spring ground, a slope down to a pond, or a lawn that has never carried a vehicle all matter. Lots near Medicine Lake, Parkers Lake and the wooded, wetland-edge lots in Hollydale often run deeper and wetter than they look from the street.
• Anything mixed in. Fencing, landscape timbers, rock, soil or a broken playset in the pile is not yard waste and goes somewhere else. Say so up front so it is in the quote and loaded separately.

Timing is seasonal. Spring cleanup and the weeks after a big storm are when most brush requests arrive, and the Plymouth yard waste site listed above is open only April to November, so a winter pile either waits or goes with a hauler.

What usually falls outside a brush haul

These normally need a different trade:

• Taking down a standing tree, climbing, or removing an attached hanging limb. Tree service.
• Stump grinding. Tree service or a stump grinding outfit.
• Clearing standing brush and overgrowth. Cutting a thicket down is land clearing or landscaping. Hauling it after it is cut is this job.
• Anything touching a power line. The utility, first.
• Regrading, sod and replanting afterwards. Landscaping.

How a brush hauling request normally runs

1. Tell us what you have. Call or submit the form. Say it is brush or yard waste and roughly how much.
2. Say whether it is already cut. If any of it is still standing, book the tree or clearing work first.
3. Name anything special in the pile. Ash, oak from a diseased tree, buckthorn with berries, or anything that is not plant material.
4. Describe the access. Where the pile is, what is between it and the street, and whether a truck or trailer can get close.
5. Ask for a quote in writing. Get the number before loading starts.
6. The brush leaves. It is loaded, and by Minnesota law it goes to a compost or wood waste site rather than a landfill.

How pricing works

We don’t set that price; the Plymouth provider doing the work quotes it. Ask for the quote in writing before anything is loaded.

What moves it:

• Volume. Brush is bulky for its weight, so how much room the pile takes up in the truck matters most.
• How it is cut. Short, stacked branches load faster than whole shrubs, root balls and tangled storm debris.
• Access. Curb and driveway piles are the easy case. A pile behind a fence, down a slope or across a soft lawn adds time and people.
• What is mixed in. Non-yard material in the pile has to be separated and goes to a different place.

Brush and yard waste hauling FAQs, Plymouth, MN

How much does brush hauling cost in Plymouth, MN? We don’t set the price. Ask the provider for a written quote before loading starts, and expect volume, how the brush is cut, access and anything mixed into the pile to drive it.

Can yard waste go in my regular trash? No. Minnesota law has barred yard waste from mixed municipal solid waste and from disposal facilities in the Twin Cities metro since 1990, and Hennepin County states that putting yard and tree waste in the garbage is illegal. See the section above for the statutes.

Do you cut down trees? No. Taking down a standing tree is tree service work and nothing on this site offers it. Once the tree is down and the wood is on the ground, the debris can be hauled.

Where does the brush go? To a compost or wood waste site. Minnesota law allows yard waste into a resource recovery facility only for reuse, composting or cocomposting in the metro area, so a brush load does not go to a landfill.

Can I take it to the Plymouth yard waste site myself? If you are a Plymouth, Medicine Lake, Wayzata or Long Lake resident, Hennepin County lists a yard waste site at 14900 23rd Avenue North in Plymouth, open April to November. Call ahead to confirm what it accepts.

What about ash wood? Ash tree waste, ash chips and non-coniferous firewood are regulated under Minnesota’s emerald ash borer quarantine and cannot leave a quarantined area without a state certificate. Keep ash local, and mention it when you send the request.

Can the brush be bagged in plastic? Only in bags that meet the ASTM D6400 compostable standard, under Minnesota law for the metro counties. Paper yard waste bags also work, and loose or bundled brush needs no bag at all.

Plymouth neighborhoods covered

Brush and yard waste hauling is covered across every Plymouth neighborhood:

• Bass Lake, larger lots along the Maple Grove border
• Medicine Lake, older lake basin homes with deep back yards
• Plymouth Creek, central corridor near the city center
• Parkers Lake, Wayzata district homes on the south side
• Hollydale, wooded and wetland adjacent lots
• Heritage Park, established mid-tier stock with mature yards
• Greenwood
• Steeple Hill

ZIP coverage: 55441, 55442, 55446, 55447.

Related services

• Construction debris removal in Plymouth, MN, for the fencing, timbers and landscape material that are not yard waste
• Garage cleanouts in Plymouth, MN, when the yard cleanup and the garage happen together
• Estate cleanouts in Plymouth, MN, when the yard is one part of clearing a whole property
• Residential junk removal in Plymouth, MN, for the rest of what has collected around the house