Miami-Dade County, FL Landscaping Rules: Composting (2026)

Section 19-3 supplies the definitions used to enforce Miami-Dade's property-maintenance code, administered by Team Metro (19-3(E)-(F)). Subsection (Q) defines "Solid waste" as "Garbage, trash, yard trash (except for compost piles), litter, cuttings from vegetation, refuse, paper, bottles, rags, hazardous waste, construction and demolition debris, industrial waste, or other discarded materials... as defined in Chapter 15, Dade County Code." Because compost piles are carved out of "yard trash," a homeowner who keeps a compost pile on residential premises is not maintaining an unlawful accumulation of "junk" or "solid waste" for purposes of Chapter 19 code enforcement, and a compliance officer cannot cite the pile itself as a violation under this chapter's junk and blight provisions.

That exemption has limits: it addresses the property-maintenance definition only, and it does not create an affirmative permit or bin standard for residential composting, since the chapter is silent on pile size, materials, or setback from a property line. Composting at a commercial scale is governed elsewhere, in Chapter 15's solid waste management provisions. Section 15-1 defines a "Community Composting Facility" as a "Resource recovery and management facilities which are limited to composting," "Composting" as the "Controlled biological decomposition of organic materials," and a "Composting hauler" as anyone collecting, removing or transporting compostable material "for or to a permitted community composting facility." Section 15-18(c) folds those facilities into the county's resource recovery and management facility permitting scheme, requiring a community composting facility to "comply with all of the requirements of this Section 15-18 and this chapter," including the operating permit that Section 15-18 requires under Section 24-35.1 of the Code and the fee review the Department of Solid Waste Management conducts before approval.

Enforcement of Chapter 19 property violations runs through a warning notice on a first offense, then civil penalties under Chapter 8CC, injunctive relief, or criminal charges carrying up to 60 days in jail or a $500 fine per offense (Section 19-4.2), with 14 days to correct a first violation or 7 days to appeal (Section 19-4.4).