Brush Collection

Collection Method

The Chattanooga Department of Public Works brush collection services is a call-in system, residents should call 311, email 311@chattanooga.gov, or submit a service request through the 311 app to request a pickup.

Guidelines

• Wood waste may not be larger than 8-ft in length, 18-in in diameter, and 4 ft in height.
• Brush piles must not have garbage or other refuse stacked on top or intermixed.
• Brush must be separated out from bulk trash and leaves
• Small amounts of brush, bagged leaves, and bagged grass clippings may be placed inside your garbage container for weekly collection.
• LAND CLEARING WILL NOT BE COLLECTED
• Do not approach collection trucks while they are collecting.
• Brush should be natural wood such as tree limbs and hedge bushes. 
• No treated wood such as 2x4's, cross-ties, particle boards, and pallets.

Placement

• Brush must be assembled at only one location adjacent to or on the property where it was generated.
• Place brush separate from other items and at least 5 feet away from parked cars, mailboxes, and all other objects.
• Brush should be placed as near as practicable to a public street in front of the residence. Do not block the roadway, sidewalk, drainage ditch, or catch basins.
• Do not place brush over water meters or under low-hanging wires.
• Do not place brush in alleyways.

Contractors and Businesses

• Contractors who perform land clearing are not eligible for service.
• Businesses are not eligible for collection.

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

311 can now be used to schedule brush pickup, Public Works transitions service to service request system

Residents will be able to schedule Brush pickups through 311 and will be given an estimated pickup time, limiting items being left on curbs for undetermined periods of time.

Chattanooga, Tenn. - The Chattanooga Department of Public Works is currently using Brush collection service as a service request system, moving away from a rotating calendar schedule that required residents to place Brush curbside in accordance with a rotating zoned schedule. The collection system led to Brush being left on curbs for prolonged periods of time. Under the new system residents can contact 311 to schedule a pickup.

Under the previous system, drivers would provide service to a given area for only a week at a time and wouldn’t be scheduled to revisit that area for another month. The process led to Brush being left on curbs for days, sometimes weeks, at a time. Under the changes, residents can call 311, email 311@chattanooga.gov, or use the 311 app to request a pickup for Brush and will be given an estimated timeframe for pickup. 

The operational changes will eliminate the need for residents to plan pickups around a predetermined schedule and reduce the time for Brush to sit curbside before being collected, with the goal of items being picked up within eight business days of the request being made.

“Forcing residents to rely on an online schedule to have their Brush picked up was a major inconvenience for them - and we received complaints that long periods without service was not good for neighborhoods,” said Ross Pitcairn, administrator for the Department of Public Works. “These adjustments will improve services in every neighborhood in Chattanooga and make for a much more efficient process for our employees.”