Also known as ‘trash’, is a measure of the amount of leaf material (from the cotton plant) remaining in the cotton sample. Whilst the gin removes most of the trash, some remains in the sample, which is removed in the spinning process, resulting in a reduction in lint yield and increases cost.

Hence, cotton with high levels of trash attracts a discount. Leaf grades range from 1 (lowest amount of trash) to 7 (highest amount of trash), with the Australian base grade at level 3.