Brush Collection Over for 2025; All Brush Set-out Dates Have Passed

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All brush collection set out dates for City of Madison residents have passed.

Do not set out brush for pickup after your set out date.

There are no more guaranteed brush collection opportunities this year.

Guaranteed curbside brush pickup from the Streets Division will return in the spring of 2026. 

What should I do with my brush now that pickup has ended for the year?

Take your brush to a Streets Division drop-off site.

Drop-off site hours, restrictions, and locations can be found on the drop-off site website

Why does brush collection end this time of year?

The same people who collect your brush are the same people who collect your leaves in the fall.

Brush collection needs to stop in order for there to be enough personnel available to perform the fall leaf pickup.

Fall leaf pickup begins the week of October 5 for certain neighborhoods.

You can get the fall leaf and yard waste set out dates for your home on the yard waste website.  

Will there be more brush pickup after the fall leaf pickup season?

Do not count on receiving an extra brush pickup this year.

Guaranteed brush pickup will return in the spring of 2026.

Fall leaf pickup does not wrap up until the first week of December.

The same people who collect your leaves (and brush) are also the same people who drive the snowplows.

We don’t know what the weather will be like in the middle of December following leaf pickup.

If it is snowy, or there’s chances of snow, the highest priority would be to have those folks in snowplows rather than picking up trimmed branches.

If the weather allows for it, we may provide a “last chance” brush pickup as we have done in the past.

If there is a “last chance” pickup, it will be announced prior to the start of the collection. 

I put brush out for pickup on the set-out date for my home and it wasn’t collected. What should I do?

You can take brush to a drop-off site.

If you feel your brush was missed during pickup, please complete a brush collection report-a-problem.

We will check the GPS information on our vehicles to be sure our brush collection crews were through your street on the week they should have been.

If the data reveals your street was missed by our collection crews, we will work to get the overlooked material collected.

However, if a truck was through your street during the assigned week, we will not send a truck back.

Keep in mind that there is frequent confusion over what exactly brush collection crews collect and what they need to leave behind.

Brush crews collect branches, sticks, and other hard woody material cut from trees, shrubs, and bushes that can be fed into a chipper to make wood mulch.

Brush crews do not collect stalks or other plant material. Plant material clogs chippers, so this material is left behind. Plant material is collected as yard waste.

Also, brush crews do not collect lumber or other trash because that does not belong mixed with mulch. Material they can’t collect is left behind. Lumber should be placed into the tan trash cart or scheduled for large item pickup.

Additional Information

More information about the services provided by the Streets Division, including the hours and locations of the drop-off site sites, can be found on the Streets and Urban Forestry webpage

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