Brush and limbs have to be a brush-only load. Nothing else in the dumpster. That is the single requirement that shapes every yard-waste job we do, and it is worth understanding why rather than just being told.
Brush does not go to the landfill. It goes to its own facility, where it gets ground and processed as wood material instead of being buried. A load of limbs is welcome there.
A load of limbs with a couple of trash bags, a busted lawn chair and some drywall in it is not, and the landfill will not take that load either, because now it has brush in it. One dumpster of mixed debris ends up with nowhere good to go, which is why the rule is absolute rather than a preference.
What counts as brush is straightforward. Limbs, branches, trimmings, and small trees. Storm damage. A fence line of overgrown hedges finally coming out. Land clearing. If it grew there and it is woody, it belongs.
What does not count is everything else, including things that feel like they should be fine. Bagged grass clippings and leaves in plastic are not brush once the plastic is involved. Old fence boards are lumber, not brush, even though they came out of the yard. Dirt and sod are their own conversation because of the weight. Root balls with a lot of soil still attached are worth mentioning on the phone before the dumpster arrives.
Most storm cleanups produce both kinds of debris, and that is the common case rather than the exception. A tree comes down and takes a section of fence with it, and now you have brush and you have lumber. Plan on two loads and tell us both halves when you call so we can work out the order. Getting the brush load out first while you are still stacking the rest is usually how it runs cleanest.
Loading a brush dumpster well is a skill and it is worth two minutes of thought. Long limbs laid flat along the floor of the dumpster hold far more than the same limbs thrown in at angles, which is what everybody does by default. Cut the long stuff down rather than trying to wedge it. Butt ends one way. Fill the gaps with the small trimmings rather than saving them for the top.
Load level with the top rail and stop there. A load mounded over the rail cannot be tarped or hauled legally, and springy brush likes to rise back up after you walk away, so what looked level at five o'clock can be over the rail by morning. If it has sprung, push it back down before we come.
Because the dumpster comes in on a trailer behind a pickup rather than a full-size roll-off truck, we can usually set it close to where the cutting is happening. That includes on gravel and on grass, where boards go under the dumpster as standard. On a clearing job that is worth more than it sounds, because the distance between the pile and the dumpster is most of the job.
Stumps and root balls are the one thing worth asking about specifically. A stump with most of the soil knocked off behaves like wood. A stump that came out of the ground with half a wheelbarrow of dirt still packed into the roots behaves like dirt, which is a weight conversation and sometimes a separate load. Knock what you can off it in the yard and mention it on the phone.
Timing helps too. Storm work comes in bursts around here, and the days after a line of weather goes through are the busiest we get. If your cutting is planned rather than urgent, booking a few days out gets you a better pick of days. If it is not planned, we do run same-day and next-day deliveries when the schedule allows.
Rental is three days, extra days $20 apiece, and the yard waste page has the rest of it. Weight still applies on a brush load and it is covered on the phone before you book.
Call (417) 766-2029 and tell us what came down and whether anything non-woody is coming out with it.