Yard Waste
Yard Waste
When maintaining lawns, landscape companies and homeowners are sometimes guilty of blowing or sweeping yard waste such as grass clippings and tree leaves into the street or down the storm drain. When it rains, this yard waste left on sidewalks, streets, or in driveways washes into nearby storm drains. Once in the storm drain system, yard waste enters local bodies of water, untreated.
How to properly handle yard waste:
- Leave grass clippings on the lawn and use it to improve your landscape or compost it!
- Mowing: the rule of thumb for mowing your yard is to remove no more than 1/3 of the grass surface at any one time. (Do not mow when your grass is wet)
- Mulching
- You can collect leaves and work them directly into a garden or flowerbed to improve soil conditions.
- Compost: https://www.epa.gov/recycle/composting-home
If you choose to bag your grass clippings and leaves, please utilize Mesquite’s pickup service every Wednesday or take your yard waste to the City's Compost Facility, which will be made into compost. Let’s all help keep our City’s water bodies clean!
Why is it a problem?
You may think because yard waste is a natural part of our environment that it’s okay for it to wash into our waterways. When grass clippings and leaves decompose (break down) into local creeks, rivers, lakes, or streams, these extra nutrients deplete the oxygen in the water. Fish and other aquatic life need oxygen to survive, therefore when oxygen levels become too low, they are at risk of dying.
An excessive amount of nutrients in the water can also cause algae blooms. Algae blooms are overgrowths of algae in water, caused by sunlight, slow-moving water, and nutrients (nitrogen and phosphorus), which can produce dangerous toxins. These toxins can cause animal and humans who come into contact with it to become very sick or even die. Collecting yard waste and keeping it out of our waterways helps reduce the amount of extra vegetation discharged into our waterways. More information on algae blooms can be found on the CDC website.
In addition to harming aquatic life, large amounts of yard waste can clog storm drains, which in turn can cause flooding. In the City of Mesquite, it is illegal to blow or sweep yard waste into the streets, sidewalks, driveways, or storm drains.