Technically, it's against city ordinance here to put any yard waste in the trash. They have one pickup a year for that and it's in the spring. They chip branches and mix everything together, compost it and use it in the parks and public areas all year.

Technically, when the truck comes around to pick up the trash, if there's any yard waste in the container, he's supposed to leave it. However, almost all of my neighbors bag their grass clippings and leaves and put them in the trash every week. I think there are one or two others who mulch mow the grass, but I think I'm the only one who mulch mows the leaves and composts.

By law in Michigan you cannot put your yard waste in with the other trash going to a landfill, that is supposed to be kept out of landfills and people are supposed to pay extra for having yard waste hauled away. Then many of the cities and townships prohibit allowing yard waste to accumulate and some even have ordinanaces that require that all the leaves from your trees be removed from your property by May 1 of the following spring. Some of these places even prohibit "any vegetative growth over 8 inches tall". Some years ago when the township board was considering a similar ordinance several of us convinced the people on that board that this would not be in their best interest since many had gardens, grew food, and had numerous plants over that 8 inch height. Many new subdivisions also have deed restrictions even going so far as to establish which plants you can grow, although the tendency is that these restrictions are tossed by the courts if they are fought.
I would be very careful about allowing any kind of ordinance that would either prescribe how or whether you could or could not compost.

My area is not very "green". I think anything can and is sent to the landfills. Garbage companies offer optional recycling but it's not mandatory. Paper, glass, plastic, yard waste... anything that you put on the curb goes to the landfill. To my knowledge all trash companies charge a flat fee, not charging per unit of weight or volume. No limits. Only "hazardous waste" from health care facilities is charged by weight, I think. (i.e. contaminated needles, bloody sponges, etc).

I've been composting for probably 20 years and if there's any ordinance against it I've never heard of it. But then I only know of one guy who composts in this big city. (Besides yours truly, of course).

Karen

My area is extremely 'green' and various municipalities sponsor and encourage a number of recycling/composting programs. In fact, a couple of local organizations have been used as models for the establishment of similar programs around the country.

Seattle Tilth is a non-profit organization dedicated to educating local urbanites on the benefits of organic gardening and composting. They certify "master composters" and provide resources and classes on composting, including ones focused for apartment and condo dwellers.

King County Solid Waste Division is the supervisory agency for garbage collection in this area. They have an ambitious program in place called Zero Waste of Resources (ZWR) that they anticipate having 100% compliance with by 2030. This involves the recycling of anything that has a recyclable value - appliances, furniture, clothes, paper, plastics, yard waste, etc. Curbside recycling is available throughout the county as part of regular garbage pick up at a nominal fee and recyclables are prohibited in the garbage. There are hefty fines involved if any recyclable material is included. There are also a number of transfer stations throughout the area for dropping off recyclable materials as well as yard waste.

Because not everyone has the inclination or ability to do home composting, the county makes it easy by converting all yard waste (this includes commercial yard waste also) and recently, all kitchen or food scraps, into a commercial compost facility. Cedar Grove Compost is an award wining, state of the art commercial composting facility that since 1989 has diverted 40 million tons of recyclable waste from landfills and prevented 3.7 metric tons of greenhouse gas emissions or the equivalent of the removal of 670,000 automobiles from the road. The additional benefit is that it supplies a variety of excellent soil amendments to a huge area, including a certified organic (tested) compost.

Interesting! What makes the people and powers that be in PNW be so different than the folks in SW Ohio? Is it education, landfill space, economics, culture, or what?

I live in Lawrence, Kan. We have municipal composting, biosolids distribution, subsidized compost bins and pails, but strangely no curbside recycling.

Compost: Our trash pickup is run through the city, and they have a city composting program. One day a week, trash trucks pick up yard waste only, preferably in paper bags. It's composted by the city and twice a year residents are offered free compost, all they can take and free truck/trailer loading. The city takes care of testing for salinity, pH, pesticide residues, etc.

Biosolids: The city captures and drys biosolids from the city's waste treatment plant. Most go to farmland, but the grade A stuff is available for residents.

Here is a link that might be useful: http://www.lawrencerecycles.org/

The PNW has always been very environmentally conscious - we DO have a reputation for being tree huggers :-)) - so I'd have to say it is the culture. Organics have always been very popular here, gardening in general is a hugely popular pastime (this is where the Master Gardening program started and where P-patches began). Environmental concerns like green construction, living roofs, protecting streams and waterways for salmon spawning and recycling have all been serious players in this area for a long time. And this is the home of Starbucks (UCG's) and Taco del Mar, which is the first fast food chain in the country to introduce fully recyclable paper-based take-out containers and utensils. And there is currently a huge push locally to ban plastic grocery bags by promoting resuable bags and attaching a surcharge to all plastic bags.

We're quite green here. No yard waste allowed in landfills. Recycling was recently made simpler - no sorting of glass bottles, plastics numbered 1-7, newspapers, magazines, etc. One large 64 gallon wheeled container for everything. For an extra fee, we could get a similar container for yard waste.

We do have a city compost site to dump off brush and excess yard debris. We can haul away all the free woodchips we can carry and purchase bagged or loaded compost if our own pile came up a little short. Same site has a hazardous materials drop off station for free disposal of all the tag ends of paint and things that clutter garages, basements and under sink cabinets. They've been running special days for expired or unused meds to keep them from being flushed.

Several of the greenhouses and nurseries will accept all the old plastic flowerpots for recycling. If you don't compost or just have too many leaves, the city rose garden wants them - bags and all to cover all the beds once the roses have been tipped.

I'm pretty happy here in that most if not all of life's detritus can be disposed of appropriately. There's always room for more - plastic bags haven't been banned, but I do see more and more people carrying the cloth reusables.

Interesting! What makes the people and powers that be in PNW be so different than the folks in SW Ohio? Is it education, landfill space, economics, culture, or what?

Miss Maryann, I work for a trash hauling service in SW Ohio. In my experience, the locals(even those that have relocated from the PNW) believe that they are entitled to send whatever they wish to the landfill. Out of sight, out of mind. Educated, wealthy, poor, uneducated, middleclass, whatever. It doesn't matter, they will even put used motor oil, engine coolant, and tires, in their trash, and be angry when we remove it and leave it behind. Easily 30%- to 40% what we pick up in trash is yardwaste. I can only surmise that only when we run out of landfill space locally and have to charge a great deal extra to haul trash further and further, because everybody is a NIMBY when it comes to a landfill, will the public(in this area) even begin to consider composting and more intensive recycling.

In other words, the bleeding idiots just don't care, as long as it has no immediate impact upon them.

As for education - and I don't mean a PhD in Environmental Management - do the localities that do have such facilities promote sound practices with PSAs, mailings, newspaper inserts? We're literally blitzed with it, but left with absolutely no doubt as to what exactly to do with what.

If it isn't dumbed down to the lowest common denominator and made as simple as possible, some wouldn't participate. Even armed with knowledge and ease another segment wouldn't bother. Instead of kicking things curbside, there will always be yahoos who insist on tossing their trash out of a moving car. The city goes after the tossers - many of them don't seem bright enough to leave out the addressed junk mail!

There still must be many places where even trash pick up, let alone recycling isn't available; where open burning, having one's own personal trash pit, or a long haul to a dump somewhere are the options.

Any limit on the number of compost piles? That would be one regulation I wouldn't want to see.