If you have a little space away from home windows and trees, a yard waste compost pile is the most environmentally friendly way to deal with yard waste (exclude kitchen waste). Not only does it recycle the garden specific nutrients your plants created for themselves, but it saves the air, water and greenhouse gas pollution of driving waste around. It is also free except for labour.
At home, I make relatively cold compost piles that I only turn when they are moslty finished, a few times per year, as opposed to hot compost piles that get turned frequently. Whenever a pile is turned, oxygen gets to the aerobic decomposing bacteria, speeding up their activity. The decomposition process releases heat, which is great for destroying weed seeds and fungal spores. (Incidentally, it's possible to run water pipes through a compost pile to help eat a greenhouse or home.) A cold pile will also heat up, provided it's as moist as a squeezed out spunge and a roughly 50-50 mix of 'green and brown' material. Green material is newly cut and still green, brown material is less nitrogenous and richer in carbon. Ripped up newspaper can be added, when there is a lot of grass clippings for example, to balance the ratio. A pile that is too wet or contains too much nitrogen will stink. The stink is methane, which is 23 times worse for global warming and carbon dioxide. If this happens, turn the pile, adding 'brown' material.
To allow oxygen into a cold pile, you may add some sticks, which will keep the pile loose. However, bees love a loose pile of organic matter and will likely take up residence in your compost if it is left undisturbed, especially if it gets dry. Since bees are in dire need of our assistance these days, and are so essential to life on earth, I will leave my pile to them and harvest it in the winter when they are gone. Another animal that loves a warm pile, is rats. I sometimes have to humanely kill rat nests found in compost. They don't eat a yard waste pile, but will make nests in them.
It is all worth it though. Homemade compost is the ideal soil amendment for your garden and it is the cheapest and most environmentally friendly way to deal with yard waste. It is my favourite job, besides mulching.