Tucson · Pima County

Yard waste and storm cleanup in Tucson

The National Weather Service defines Tucson’s monsoon as June 15 through September 30, and it drops about six inches of rain — more than half the year’s total, with the wind that takes the mesquites down.

What a Tucson storm leaves in the yard

A Tucson monsoon storm typically leaves three separate piles: green waste from broken limbs and palm fronds, structural debris from fencing and carports, and soaked contents from anything that flooded. They go to different places at different rates, so a hauler prices them as three loads rather than one.

The NWS Tucson office names four monsoon hazards: microbursts with gusts over 70 mph, flash flooding at rainfall rates up to four inches an hour, dust storms, and lightning, including dry lightning early in the season. In a yard that translates to split mesquite and palo verde limbs, whole trees rocked out of shallow desert soil, fence panels and gates blown flat, shade sails and patio covers torn loose, roof tiles in the pool, and a layer of mud and rock where the wash decided to run through the lot. The city’s 1991–2020 normals put July at 2.21 inches and August at 1.98, so the damage clusters in about eight weeks.

Sort before anyone quotes. Green waste — limbs, brush, dead cactus, palm fronds — is bulky but light and cheap to tip. Fence panels, roofing, broken furniture and the collapsed ramada are construction debris. Mud, rock and gravel are inert fill. A hauler charges by the truck for the first, may charge by weight for the last two, and cannot put any of it in the same place.

Where green waste goes, and what it costs

Los Reales accepts green waste at its normal rates — $18 for a covered load under 2,000 pounds, $2 environmental fee, $10 more if the load is not covered, and a truckload of loose brush will not stay in the truck uncovered anyway. The Catalina Transfer Station on N. Oracle Road lists yard and green waste among what it takes, which matters if you are on the north side, and the WM Marana Regional Landfill lists yard waste too. Tank’s Speedway facility on E. Speedway is built around landscape waste and describes turning it into mulch and wood products rather than burying it.

Inside the city limits, Brush and Bulky takes brush cut to five feet long and no more than 24 inches in diameter, and cacti boxed and under 25 pounds, up to the household’s 10 cubic yards, on the scheduled week for your service area. After a big storm the pile is usually bigger than that, the collection week is usually not next week, and the limbs blocking the driveway are usually not cut to five feet. That is the gap a hauler fills.

Never push storm debris into the wash

It is tempting: the wash is right there, the limbs came from it, and the water will move them. Pima County makes it unlawful to dump or deposit solid waste anywhere in the county other than an approved site, and washes are where the next storm’s flash flood picks up everything it finds and delivers it to a culvert or a neighbor’s wall. The same goes for the desert lot behind the fence. A hauler who suggests either is telling you how he disposes of other people’s loads.

Debris that is already in the wash: a fence section, a shed roof — is worth pulling out before the next storm for the same reason, and it is worth photographing first if an insurance claim is likely.

Storm cleanup in the right order

1. Look up. A downed power line in the yard is the utility’s job before it is anyone else’s. Do not cut a limb resting on a line.
2. Photograph everything before it moves if a roof, a fence or a structure is damaged and you might claim.
3. Clear access: the driveway and the gate, so the truck can reach the rest.
4. Sort into three piles: green waste, construction debris, and inert mud and rock.
5. Check the Brush and Bulky calendar for your address if you are inside the city; the light brush may be free if the week is close.
6. Quote the rest by pile, so the hauler prices green waste by the truck and the heavy material by weight.

Landscaping junk removal: what the crew hauls after a yard job

Landscaping junk is its own category, and it is the one Brush and Bulky refuses most often. A landscaper who pulls out a dead mesquite, tears up a gravel bed or takes down an old block planter usually leaves the debris where it fell, because hauling is not what you hired them for. That pile is dirt, rock, root balls, broken block, irrigation line and cut wood, all mixed together.

The city truck does not take dirt, rock or concrete at all, and it takes brush only when it is cut and stacked to the rules. A hauler takes the whole pile, but the price follows the weight rather than the volume: a quarter truck of branches is light and cheap to tip, while a quarter truck of rock and soil weighs more than a truck can carry in one trip and is charged at the landfill by the ton. Expect the quote to separate the green waste from the heavy material, and ask whether the rock can go somewhere other than the landfill, because clean fill and gravel are often reused rather than tipped.

Two things worth doing before the crew comes. Keep the dirt separate from the wood if you can, because mixed loads are the expensive ones. And leave the old irrigation line in one place, since PVC is refused by some recyclers and the hauler needs to know it is in the pile.

Cactus, palm fronds and mesquite: the three Tucson yard loads that surprise people

Three kinds of Tucson yard waste change a quote in ways a lawn-and-leaves city never sees. Cactus is the first: cholla and prickly pear cannot be handled with bare hands or loaded loose, and a crew that has done it brings tongs, thick tarps and a plan for the truck bed, because segments that fall off root where they land. Say cactus on the call. Palm fronds are the second: light but enormous, fibrous, and slow to cut down to a size that stacks, so a pile of fronds that looks like a quarter truck is often a half by the time it is loaded. Mesquite is the third: dense, heavy and thorned, the wood that makes a small brush pile weigh more than a sofa. It is the one load where a hauler may ask whether the wood is wanted by anyone, because mesquite firewood has takers and the landfill charges by weight to bury it. All three go as green waste where the pile is clean, and as bulky waste the moment dirt, rock or trash is mixed in, which is the reason to keep them separate before the crew arrives.

Yard cleanups that are not about a storm

The other half of this work is overgrowth: a rental turnover with a backyard nobody has touched in three summers, a listing where the buyer’s photographs need a clean lot, an HOA letter about the weeds. Same sorting, same landfill, but here the timing is yours, and the Brush and Bulky calendar is worth checking before you pay anyone. If the collection week is inside your window, cut the brush to five feet, box the cactus, stack it three feet from the bins by 6 a.m. that Monday, and pay a hauler only for the part that is over ten cubic yards or on the refused list — dirt, rock, glass, anything from a structure. Monsoon and storm debris cleanup in Tucson has the full season guide.

Frequently asked questions

How much does storm debris removal cost in Tucson?

Green waste is light, so it is priced by volume — published ranges put a half truck at $300 to $550 and a full truck at $600 to $900. Fence panels, roofing and mud are heavier and may be priced by weight. The landfill fee inside a truck of brush is about $20; the rest is the cutting, loading and hauling.

Will the city pick up storm limbs for free?

Inside the city limits, only on your Brush and Bulky week, and only brush cut to five feet and under 24 inches across, up to 10 cubic yards for the household. The schedule is set by service area for the year. If your collection is months away, or you live in Oro Valley, Marana, Sahuarita, Vail, the Foothills or Green Valley, there is no free pickup.

Can green waste and broken fencing go in the same load?

To Los Reales, yes. It accepts both. To the Tank’s facilities or as mulch, no, because treated fence lumber and roofing contaminate the green waste. Sort them if you want the cheaper or greener option; a hauler will usually ask you to.

Will Brush and Bulky take the dirt, rock and glass a storm leaves?

No. The city’s refused list for Brush and Bulky includes dirt, stones, rocks and gravel, glass and mirrors, concrete and construction material. Mud and rock that a flash flood pushes into a yard is inert fill for the landfill or an inert site, and a broken window goes on the truck, not the curb.

What about a tree that fell on the roof?

That is two jobs. Getting the tree off the structure safely is tree work, often with a crane and always with the utility line in mind; hauling the pieces once they are on the ground is what a junk hauler does. Photograph it before anyone touches it, and call the tree service first.

Call (520) 462-1120

Where this service is available

TucsonOro ValleyMaranaSahuaritaVailCatalina FoothillsGreen Valley

Local companies serving Tucson and Pima County; travel to outlying areas is usually included in the estimate — ask.

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