SOUTH BEND, Ind. - The City of South Bend's annual yard waste season starts Monday. For $4.50 per month, residents can get their yard waste picked up on a weekly basis.

The yard waste season runs through the end of November.

Residents can sign up online or call 311 to receive a 48- or 96-gallon bin to empty their yard waste in. The waste will be picked up the same day trash is picked up.

The only items going into bins should be grass clippings, leaves twigs and weeds. A number of items should be kept out:

• Animal waste
• Dirt and rocks
• Household trash
• Food waste
• Lumber
• Oils
• Liquids
• Other hazardous waste
• Plastic bags
• Recycling

The wrong items in the yard waste bin can cause an entire truckload to be taken to the landfill.

Yard waste gets converted into mulch and compost, which is free for those self-loading at an area outside the city's Organic Resources facility, located at 4340 Trade Drive.

Residents who received the service last year and already have a yard waste bin do not need to sign up again.

During the month of April, the city is offering an amnesty period for extra yard waste pickups.

For the entire month, the limit of 10, 30-gallon biodegradable bags or a cubic yard of tied limbs for a free extra pickup will be waived.

However, residents can only request one free extra pickup for April.

Additional requests for the month are $10 per cubic yard.

To schedule an extra pickup, submit a request online or call 311.

For extra pickups, residents should follow specific guidelines:

• All bags must be the brown, biodegradable paper leaf bags and be free of any trash debris
• Branches need to be cut to four feet or shorter, be no more than four inches in diameter and be bundled securely with twine in manageable bundles
• All items must be to the curb by 6 a.m. on trash pickup day
• Yard waste needs to be away from vehicles, containers, mailboxes, trees or any other obstructions
• Items can also not be under any branches or powerlines
• No plastic of any kind will be accepted