I agree. The best use is to put it back on the land... it knows what to do with it.
The landfills that compost.... only do so to stabilize the latent spontaneous combustion factor (like hay that is baled or stacked too wet catches fire, burns barns). Stabilized organics are then mixed with dirt and used for daily cover (ADC) over the solid waste... dilution being the solution, it will not be so bio-reactive as to cause those fires, but will produce methane for decades as it decomposes in the landfill instead of doing some good on the ground... Some of the material is sold but the bulk of it is added to the landfill's cover.
Many contractors grind and process the yard waste and sell it as mulch to be sure, but most of it goes to the landfills.
Biomass for fuel is one of those coming resources but yard waste is full of contaminants: the leaves, twigs, bark, grass and dirt have to be screened out, leaving the wood fiber relatively clean, before the BTU capture is truly worth the effort. The fine screened material is a good soil amendment soil because it is so biologically complex... hauling it back out is expensive.
Transporting the materials is the primary issue. Shred the material in a small town brushlot and you don't have to pay to take it anywhere. Why do we give this soon-to-be landscape and fuel resource away when almost every small town can handle the material with a shredder mounted on one of their own tractors?