Donate Landscaping Materials: A Simple Way to Make a Difference in Your Community
Are you a homeowner wondering what to do with the extra materials left over from your last big landscaping project?
Or maybe you’re a professional gardener with surplus supplies taking up space? Both your community and the environment benefit when you donate them instead of dumping them in a landfill.
At Resource Central, use our drive-through donation lane to drop off items at our Materials Reuse home improvement store at 6400 Arapahoe Road in Boulder, CO. We accept donations Monday through Saturday, 9am to 4pm, and we also offer free at-home pickup for qualifying donations within roughly a 30-minute drive of Boulder.
Whether you live in Boulder, Longmont, Lafayette, or elsewhere along the Front Range, we make it easy to donate landscaping materials without a landfill trip.
And if you aren’t donating but searching for affordable materials, our program can support you too. Donated rocks, pavers, flagstone, and lumber are resold at our Boulder store at roughly one-third of retail. Keep reading to find out how you can save… when you save!
Another reason to donate with us: Resource Central is a nonprofit and your donation is tax-deductible. It’s a win-win for the planet and for contractors and homeowners clearing out extras after a big project, especially when reusable items are made available to the community and avoid being tossed (for a fee) in a landfill. Here’s an overview of the types of material donations we accept, how the donation process works, and how to find free or affordable landscaping materials at our reuse store.
What Kinds of Landscaping Materials Can You Donate?
Rocks, lumber, decorative stones, bricks, and pavers are among the materials we regularly accept at Resource Central. If you have supplies that are not on this list, it is worth reaching out. As long as the items can be salvaged and put back to use, we can likely take them and keep them out of a Colorado landfill.
Here is a detailed overview of the landscaping-category materials we accept at our Boulder facility.
Decorative Stone and Decorative Rock
- Cobbles, boulders, and accent stones are popular for garden features and planting bed edging. Decorative rock and decorative stone donations move quickly at the store, which means a faster turnaround from your yard to someone else’s project.
Flagstone
- Full slabs and broken pieces are both accepted. Flagstone finds new life as patios, stepping stone paths, retaining wall caps, and raised bed borders. If you pulled up a flagstone patio during a remodel or have leftover pieces from a walkway project, those are exactly the kinds of donations we’ll accept
Bricks and Pavers
- Clay bricks, concrete bricks, full pallets, and partial pallets are all welcome. If you want to donate bricks left over from patio, edging, or hardscape work, we’re glad to take them. Concrete, stone, and interlocking pavers are consistently useful and move steadily through the store. Even smaller quantities add up when community members are building garden paths or edging a planting bed.
Lumber and Wood
- If you want to donate wood from a fence teardown, deck rebuild, or framing project, we accept dimensional lumber, decking boards, timbers, and trim in reusable condition. Donating wood rather than sending it to the landfill is one of the more impactful material choices a homeowner or contractor can make, since usable lumber has clear secondary value for the next project.
Railroad Ties
- Railroad ties in sound, reusable condition work well for retaining walls, raised garden bed borders, and edging. If the ties are intact and have not been compromised by heavy moisture damage, they are typically a good candidate for donation.
Fencing
- Fencing panels, pickets, and posts in reusable shape are accepted. Whether you replaced a wooden fence with a new style or simply upgraded a section, salvageable fencing materials can serve another yard rather than a dumpster.
A Note on Material Condition
- Materials should be in salvageable, reusable condition. That means no exposed nails, rotted wood, no crumbling brick, and no chemically damaged stone. If you’re unsure whether an item qualifies, send us a photo before loading your vehicle. It saves time and helps keep the donation lane moving quickly for the next person in line.
For the full list of accepted items, visit our Materials Reuse program donations page.
Why You Should Donate Building Materials and Other Landscaping Supplies
Donating your excess landscaping materials to a nonprofit reuse program does more than clear your yard. It keeps usable materials in circulation, supports families and contractors who need affordable supplies, reduces waste going into Colorado landfills, and gives you a tax deduction in the process. Here’s more information about each of those benefits.
It Keeps Materials Out of Colorado Landfills
Construction and landscaping debris is one of the heavier waste streams entering municipal landfills. Bricks, concrete, stone, and lumber do not break down quickly, and hauling them away costs money and fuel. When those same materials are donated and reused, the chain stops there.
Resource Central has diverted more than 74 million pounds of building materials from Colorado landfills. That figure reflects decades of individual donations adding up to something meaningful at a regional scale. View our most recent annual conservation impact report for the full numbers.
Every load of pavers or pile of decorative rock that comes through our donation lane is one less trip to the dump. Multiply that across thousands of community members each year, and the conservation impact adds up quickly
It Supports Affordable Home Improvement for Your Neighbors
We resell donated landscaping materials at roughly one-third of retail. That means leftover flagstone from your patio project could become affordable stepping stones for a neighbor on a tight budget.
In 2025 alone, nearly 61,500 community members were served through our reuse work, whether by donating items or shopping the store for affordable finds. That kind of community circulation is exactly what a materials reuse program is built to create. One household’s surplus becomes another household’s project.
It Supports Local Jobs and the Local Economy
Our Materials Reuse program creates employment in receiving, sorting, pricing, and reselling donated goods. By donating to Resource Central rather than using a landfill, you’re supporting those jobs and the broader economic model that makes affordable reuse possible in our community.
It also reduces demand for newly manufactured materials, which means fewer raw resources extracted and less energy spent on transportation and production. That is a practical environmental benefit, not just a talking point.
Your Donation Is Tax-Deductible
Resource Central is a 501(c)(3) nonprofit, and donations of building and landscaping materials are tax-deductible. When you drop off materials at our Boulder location or during a free pickup, we provide documentation for your records.
For contractors, landscapers, and property managers, that is a real budget benefit at the close of a project. Instead of paying landfill disposal fees to haul surplus materials away, you receive a tax deduction for the same load. If you donate regularly across multiple projects in a year, those deductions add up.
Keep the receipt with your tax paperwork for the year of the donation and consult your tax advisor about valuation for larger quantities.
It’s Free and Convenient
We offer two ways to donate, and both are designed to be as easy as possible. The drive-through donation lane requires no appointment, and our team unloads the vehicle for you. The free home pickup service means you don’t even need to transport materials yourself for qualifying donations.
Compare that to driving to a landfill, which typically involves a tipping fee, a wait at the gate, and the effort of unloading on your own. Donating here is faster, free, and leaves you with a tax receipt instead of a disposal bill.
Two Ways to Donate Landscaping Materials to Resource Central
We have designed the Material Reuse donation process to make conservation as easy as possible. Whether you have a car full of bricks or a pallet of flagstone that needs a pickup, here is how each option works.
Option 1: Drive-Through Donation Lane
Our drive-through donation lane at 6400 Arapahoe Road in Boulder, CO is open Monday through Saturday from 9am to 4pm. No appointment is needed. Pull in, tell our team what you have brought, and we’ll take care of the unloading.
This option works well for homeowners with a truck bed or trailer load of rocks, bricks, pavers, lumber, or fencing. It is fast, straightforward, and you leave with a tax receipt.
If you’re visiting us from a nearby Front Range community, please plan your drive to arrive before 4pm. Our team processes donations throughout the day, and earlier arrivals on busy weekends tend to move through faster.
Option 2: Free Home Pickup
For qualifying donations within approximately 30 minutes of Boulder, we offer free home pickup. This covers much of the Front Range, including many parts of Boulder County and the surrounding area.
The free pickup option is the right choice for contractors and homeowners with bulk quantities that are difficult to transport. A pallet of pavers, a stack of flagstone slabs, or a load of railroad ties can be heavy, awkward, and difficult to fit in a personal vehicle. Instead of renting a truck or making multiple trips, schedule a pickup, and we’ll send a team to your location.
To request a pickup, use the form on our website and include a description of the materials and approximate quantity. We’ll confirm the details and schedule a time that works. If you aren’t sure whether your donation qualifies for pickup, call us at 303-419-5418, or email pickup@resourcecentral.org, and we can help you figure out the best option.
Find Free or Affordable Landscaping Materials at Our Reuse Store
If you’re searching for affordable and sustainable landscaping materials, our home improvement store is a good first stop. Donated materials arrive daily and are resold at roughly one-third of retail. The materials available on any given day depend entirely on what community members have donated recently. That means the inventory is always changing and always worth a look, especially if you have flexibility on size, color, or style.
What You Can Find at the Store
In our East lot, shoppers commonly find rocks and river rock for drainage and ground cover, bricks and pavers for hardscape projects, flagstone for patios and walkways, decorative stone and cobbles for garden features, dimensional lumber and decking boards, and fencing panels and posts.
Because stock changes daily, it pays to visit often if you’re hunting for something specific. If you need a particular size of flagstone or a certain color of decorative rock, checking back over a few weeks often turns up exactly what you need at a fraction of what you would pay at a home improvement store.
How the Pricing Works
Everything in our Materials Reuse store is priced well below retail. The goal is to move donated materials back into the community as efficiently as possible, which keeps prices low for shoppers and keeps the donation lane active for donors. Most landscaping materials are priced at roughly one-third of what you would pay new.
For homeowners rethinking a lawn or adding a low-water garden, pairing affordable landscaping stone from the home improvement store with a project from our Lawn Replacement program can stretch a landscaping budget a long way. Stone and gravel from the store work well as ground cover in turf replacement projects, saving you the cost of buying new materials while moving donated inventory to someone who will genuinely use it.
Where to Find Us
The store is located at 6400 Arapahoe Road, Boulder, CO, open Monday through Saturday, 9am to 5pm. Our donation late is open Monday through Saturday, 9am to 4pm. To check the full list of what is available and plan your visit, check out our list of accepted donation items.
We serve Boulder, Longmont, Lafayette, Louisville, Niwot, Superior, Erie, and communities across the Front Range. If you’re within a reasonable drive of Boulder, a trip to our Materials Reuse store is almost always worth it for landscaping projects on a budget.
Donate Landscaping Materials to Resource Central
Every donation to Resource Central is tax-deductible. We provide the documentation you need for your records, whether you drop off at our Boulder location or we offer a free pickup.
Contractors, landscapers, and property managers: the free pickup option is especially useful at project close when surplus materials need to leave the site quickly. One call replaces a landfill run, a disposal fee, and the labor of unloading. You receive a tax deduction instead of a bill.
Interested in the numbers behind our work? Check out our most recent annual conservation impact report, or read more about our 50 years of conservation work in Colorado.
Frequently Asked Questions About Donating and Finding Landscaping Materials
Where can I drop off landscaping materials near Boulder?
You can drop off landscaping materials at our Materials Reuse home improvement center at 6400 Arapahoe Road, Boulder, CO. The drive-through donation lane is open Monday through Saturday from 9am to 4pm. No appointment is required.
Can I get free rocks or landscaping stone near me?
Materials at our store are not free. Donated materials are resold at roughly one-third of retail, which is significantly below what you would pay at a home improvement store. Inventory changes daily as new donations arrive, so it helps to check back often. Visit our home improvement store page for current hours and directions.
Does Resource Central offer free pickup for landscaping material donations?
Yes. We offer free home pickup for qualifying donations within approximately 30 minutes of Boulder. This is a practical option for contractors and homeowners with bulk quantities that are difficult to move. Request a pickup through our website, or call 303-419-5418, and our team will confirm the details and schedule a time.
Are landscaping material donations tax-deductible?
Yes. Resource Central is a 501(c)(3) nonprofit, and donations of building and landscaping materials are tax-deductible. When you drop off materials at our Boulder location or schedule a free pickup, we provide documentation of the donation for your records. Keep the receipt with your tax paperwork for the year of the donation and consult your tax advisor about valuation for large quantities.
What condition do landscaping materials need to be in to donate?
Items should be reusable and in salvageable shape. That generally means intact bricks and pavers, sound lumber without heavy rot or embedded nails, and stone that has not been chemically damaged. If you aren’t sure whether something qualifies, email a photo to pickup@resourcecentral.org before loading up, or call us at 303-419-5418 and we’ll let you know quickly.
Can I donate bricks from a demolition or home renovation?
Yes. We accept clay and concrete bricks. Bricks left over from patio teardowns, edging projects, and hardscape renovations are a good fit for our Materials Reuse program. As long as the bricks are intact and not heavily damaged, bring them to our drive-through donation lane or request a free pickup.
Can I donate wood or lumber from a fence or deck project?
Yes. We accept dimensional lumber, decking boards, timbers, fencing panels, pickets, and posts in reusable condition. Donating the usable wood keeps it out of the landfill and puts it to work on the next person’s project. Wood should be free from heavy rot or structural damage to qualify.
Where can I find free landscaping materials near me?
If you’re in or near Boulder, our home improvement store in Boulder is the best local source for affordable landscaping materials. They’re resold well below retail as new donations arrive. While materials are not free, the pricing at roughly one-third of retail makes it an affordable alternative. Inventory changes daily, so frequent visits are the best strategy for finding specific items.
What happens to landscaping materials after I donate them?
After you drop off materials at our Boulder facility or drop them off during a free pickup, our team sorts, prices, and places them on the floor of our home improvement store. From there, they are purchased for use in new projects. The cycle keeps materials in active use rather than in a landfill, and it makes affordable home improvement possible.
