New legislation signed by Gov. Terry Branstad on Tuesday may end up saving residents of Greater Des Moines money on yard bags by allowing yard wastes to be disposed of  with regular trash.

We’re talking to you, south-of-Granders and others with lots of trees in your yards.

The bill, House File 266 will allow landfills that collect methane to produce electricity to bury yard wastes along with regular trash, beginning July 1. That includes the Metro Waste Authority’s landfill in eastern Polk County, where both MidAmerican Energy and Municipal Energy Agency of Nebraska get electricity from generators at the MWA landfill that are powered by methane from rotting garbage.

That means MWA doesn’t have to pay for a special compost operation that was part of the state’s plan to divert wastes from landfills. And, typically, MWA passes savings on to customers, including area haulers, said Reo Menning, MWA executive director. The haulers will have to decide whether to share the savings with customers.

As it stands, yard wastes are composted after collection by area haulers. Many residents buy the special Compost It! bags at $8 for a package of five. Or they can guy someone else’s paper bags and attach a $1.25 Compost It! sticker to each bag. Stickers for extra bags of trash are usually $1. The yard waste rollout carts cost $105 per year.

MWA supported HF 266 because the yard wastes will increase methane production at the landfill. MWA estimates that the methane plants will go from powering 11,500 homes to supplying 17,700 homes by 2035.

Menning said the MWA staff hopes to have new collection programs in place by January or February, after consulting with local haulers and seeking the approval of the MWA board of directors.

If you can fit all your yard waste in your trash container, you most likely won’t have to buy anything extra in 2016, when the changes are made, Menning said. But for most homeowners, Menning said, the change will probably mean buying generic yard bags at a hardware or grocery store, and attaching a sticker. The question is what the stickers will cost. Extra rollout containers likely will be available for a price, too.

But for this year, the programs will remain as is. Happy raking.