Ames, IA Landscaping Rules: Composting (2026)

Sec. 10.26 lists what Ames residents can and cannot put in a backyard compost pile, and it opens with notwithstanding language that overrides any conflicting restriction elsewhere in Chapter 10, so a resident composting properly is not separately violating the general no-mixing or receptacle rules for the same material. The allowed list covers yard waste such as leaves, grass clippings, straw, hay and sawdust, finely chopped or shredded tree and shrub prunings, kitchen scraps including fruit and vegetable trimmings, rhubarb leaves, coffee grounds and eggshells, shredded newspaper, and wood ashes capped at one cup per bushel of compost, a specific ratio aimed at keeping the pile from turning too alkaline.

The barred list is just as specific: no human or animal feces, no diseased plant material or weeds that have already gone to seed, and no kitchen scraps containing meat, bone or fat, all materials that attract pests or spread pathogens in an open pile. Sec. 10.26(3) folds in state law by reference, requiring all composting to comply with Chapter 105 of the Iowa Administrative Code, so a resident's compost pile answers to both the city list and the state's technical standards. Sec. 10.24 covers the related but separate practice of land-applying leaves or grass hauled in from another site, requiring that material be spread evenly within seventy-two hours of arrival and that site owners take reasonable measures to keep it from migrating off the application site.