Bannock County, ID Landscaping Rules: Composting (2026)

Bannock County Code Section 8.08.060(D) exempts backyard composting from the general ban on accumulating solid waste: compost piles may be maintained for fertilization purposes, and the resulting matter may be transported, kept and used, provided it does not constitute a public or private nuisance as defined by Idaho Code. That protects an ordinary residential pile built from a household's own yard waste. Section 8.08.060(E) draws a sharper line once material comes from off-site: compost piles using materials from other sites must have approval from the Southeast Idaho District Health Department and the director of the Bannock County landfill before they can operate.

Anyone running the operation as a commercial composting business faces an additional layer of review, becoming subject to county zoning regulations and district health department rules, which can include a conditional use permit in zoning districts that allow the use. In practice this means a rural homeowner turning kitchen and yard scraps into fertilizer on their own land needs no permit at all, but a hauler or business bringing in loads of organic material from multiple properties, or operating a composting yard as a commercial enterprise, must clear both the health department and the county zoning process before starting.