Bayonne, NJ Landscaping Rules: Composting (2026)

Chapter 26 of the Revised General Ordinances traces back to the 1987 Statewide Mandatory Source Separation and Recycling Act, which required every New Jersey municipality to separate leaves from the solid waste stream for composting and to recycle at least three other designated materials (§ 26-1.1). Bayonne implemented that mandate at § 26-1.3, defining COMPOSTING at § 26-1.2 as the process by which organic materials are turned into humus similar to topsoil. Residents, businesses and institutions covered by the ordinance may satisfy the leaf-separation requirement in one of three ways, and composting leaves on their own property is listed first: an owner, lessee or occupant may compost on-site instead of putting leaves out for City collection.

The alternative methods are placing leaves at the collection or pick-up sites the Recycling Coordinator designates, or bagging them in City-authorized containers. Because the ordinance treats on-property composting as a private alternative to curbside collection, it does not prescribe a bin type, pile size, setback from a property line, or turning schedule; those choices are left to the resident as long as the leaves never re-enter the regular solid waste or recycling stream in violation of the source-separation mandate. The Police Department and Solid Waste Division enforce Chapter 26 generally under § 26-1.9, and a person who fails to keep leaves properly separated, whether through composting or otherwise, is subject to the same penalty structure in § 26-1.10: a fine capped at $25 for a first offense, $25 to $500 for a second, and up to $1,250 and 90 days in jail as the outer statutory ceiling.