A storm rolls through Marco Island or East Naples, and by the next morning your phone doesn’t stop ringing. Every property you service has downed branches, torn palm fronds, and piles of storm debris, and county curbside pickup is already backed up for weeks. Your crew is the one homeowners are counting on to get their yards clear, fast.
That’s exactly the window where a lot of landscaping crews get stuck without anywhere to take what they’re cutting. We see it every storm season: everyone scrambling for a drop-off point at the same time county facilities are already overwhelmed.
Here’s how to plan for it before the next one hits.
Why Storm Season Overwhelms Yard Waste Disposal in Collier County
Collier County’s curbside collection isn’t built for the volume a major storm generates in a single week. When every property on Marco Island and in Naples needs cleanup at once, the backlog stretches for weeks, and landscaping crews end up holding debris with nowhere immediate to take it.
That’s on top of the normal traffic and detours storms leave behind, which makes any facility further from your job sites even harder to reach. Having a nearby, reliable drop-off point in East Naples matters more during storm season than any other time of year.
Act now: Set up your monthly landscaper account before storm season peaks (June through November). Crews with an account already on file move through drop-off faster when everyone else is showing up for the first time.
What You Can (and Can’t) Bring Us After a Storm
We accept clean vegetative storm debris: downed branches, torn palm fronds, uprooted brush, and general yard trimmings. We do not accept structural debris like fencing, shed material, roofing, or anything mixed with construction waste.
After a storm, it’s tempting to load everything from a property into one trip. Keep the vegetative debris separate from anything structural before you leave the job site. A mixed load gets turned away or handled differently at the gate, and that’s the last thing you want to deal with when you’re already racing daylight.
How Monthly Accounts Help Crews Move Faster During Cleanup Season
Storm cleanup means more trips per week than a normal month, sometimes multiple loads a day if you’re servicing several properties. Paying per load at the gate every single trip slows everyone down. Our monthly landscaper accounts let your crew drop and go, with everything invoiced once a month instead of settled at the truck.
If you’re not set up with an account yet, call our office now, not after the next storm warning goes out. Setup takes a phone call, but you don’t want to be making that call the same week you need it.
Pro tip: Keep a tarp or bin in the truck specifically for vegetative debris so it never gets mixed with anything structural during a fast storm cleanup. It saves time at drop-off when you’re already moving quickly.
Planning Ahead: What Landscaping Crews Should Do Before the Next Storm
Set up your landscaper account in the off-season, not during an active storm watch. Know your route from your typical Marco Island and East Naples job sites to our facility off US-41 before you need it under pressure. And talk to your crew ahead of time about keeping loads separated by material type, since that habit is what keeps a stressful cleanup week from turning into a wasted trip.
We built our yard waste operation around exactly this kind of demand. Three years in, storm season is consistently the busiest stretch we see, and the crews who come in with an account already set up move through fastest.
Frequently Asked Questions
What’s the difference between everyday yard waste and storm debris?
For drop-off purposes, none, as long as it’s clean vegetative material. Branches, palm fronds, and brush from a storm are treated the same as routine trimmings.
Do you take downed trees, not just branches?
Call ahead to confirm sizing and volume for larger downed trees so we can plan for the load.
Will you be able to handle the volume during a busy storm week?
We plan for storm season capacity, but calling ahead helps us prepare for larger volumes from your crew specifically.
Do your prices change during storm cleanup season?
Call our office for current pricing. We don’t want crews caught off guard, so ask when you set up or renew your account.
Do you serve both Marco Island and East Naples during storm cleanup?
Yes, our East Naples facility off US-41 serves crews working both Marco Island and greater Naples.
How do I set up a landscaper account before storm season?
Call our office directly. Setup takes one phone call, and it’s worth doing well before a storm watch is issued.
Get Set Up Before the Next Storm Watch
Don’t wait until a storm is bearing down to figure out where your crew is taking debris. Call 239-452-2839 now to set up a monthly landscaper account, and visit our Yard Waste Services page to know your route to our East Naples facility before you need it.
We’re a family owned and operated, veteran owned recycling company based right here in East Naples, three years in and built specifically around what local landscaping crews need, especially when a storm hits and everyone needs somewhere to go at once.
— Keith Basik, CEO, Repurposed Materials of Naples