The landfill
The Sioux Falls Regional Sanitary Landfill is at 26750 464th Avenue near Hartford, phone 605-367-8162, open Monday through Saturday from 7:30 a.m. to 5 p.m. It serves Minnehaha, McCook, Lincoln, Turner and Lake Counties. For 2026, yard debris and wood waste cost $3 per visit for a car or minivan and $6 for a pickup or small trailer under 3 cubic yards or 8,500 pounds. Bigger loads cost $11 per ton with a $6 minimum. That's far below household garbage at $41 a ton. Limbs and branches are ground into mulch there and grass and leaves are composted, and the landfill offers free compost. Each household gets one free landfill pass a year, resetting January 1. Card payments carry a service fee as of January 2026.
The fall drop sites
In fall the City runs free leaf and branch drop sites. In 2026 they're open September 12 through November 29, Monday through Saturday 9 a.m. to 5 p.m. and Sunday noon to 5 p.m., on North Lyon Boulevard near the Sioux Empire Fairgrounds and on Chambers Street west of the Household Hazardous Waste Facility. They're free for residents of Sioux Falls and Lake, Lincoln, McCook, Minnehaha and Turner Counties, for residential use only. No stumps, root balls, rubble, plastic bags or garbage are accepted. Branches and leaves go in separate piles, and loads must be tarped. Commercial and lawn-service companies can't use them and must go to the landfill.
What the City picks up
When a tree falls from public property, City Forestry removes it and the stump at no cost. For privately planted trees, the City clears debris only where it blocks the right-of-way, and it doesn't take private trees cut and piled on the boulevard. Branches under 6 inches across, at any length, are the owner's to collect and dispose of. Whoever trims a tree must dispose of the debris, and the City names the landfill as the proper site.
Ash wood and the quarantine
South Dakota's internal EAB quarantine covers all of Brookings, Codington, Grant, Minnehaha, Lincoln, Turner and Union Counties. Regulated articles include ash logs, lumber, chips, mulch and wood packing material, ash nursery stock, and all hardwood firewood. They move freely inside the quarantine counties. Moving them out takes a permit or compliance agreement from the Department of Agriculture and Natural Resources, with an inspection. Since June 2021 an exterior quarantine bars untreated regulated articles, including firewood, from states east of South Dakota and other infested counties. Violators can face civil or criminal penalties. The state's advice is short: don't move firewood. Hardwood firewood from the infestation area is banned from all South Dakota state parks. The City adds that moving ash wood is prohibited from Memorial Day to Labor Day.
What we do with it
Every tree we cut is chipped on site or hauled to the landfill's wood pile. Ash never leaves the quarantine. Our prices include tipping fees. If you want to keep the chips for mulch or logs for your own fireplace, tell us. Ash chips and wood can stay on your property.
Common questions
Can I put branches in my garbage cart?
The City says yard debris shouldn't go in household trash or recycling. It's accepted year-round at the landfill.
Can I take my ash firewood to the lake?
Not if the lake is outside the quarantine counties, and not to any state park. All hardwood firewood is regulated.
Will the drop sites take a stump?
No. Stumps, root balls and rubble go to the landfill.
Can a tree company use the free drop sites?
No. Commercial businesses must use the landfill. Our price includes it.
Related: Storm cleanup · Ash tree removal · EAB guide · Stump grinding