Tulare County, CA Landscaping Rules: Composting (2026)

The dominant rule for composting and organic waste is state law: Senate Bill 1383 (the Short-Lived Climate Pollutants Reduction Act) took effect January 1, 2022 and requires all California residents and businesses to keep organic waste - food scraps, yard trimmings, food-soiled paper, and similar materials - out of landfills. SB 1383 requires jurisdictions like Tulare County to provide organic-waste collection service to residents and businesses, or to require generators to separate and self-haul their organics to a facility for diversion. Backyard or on-site composting is explicitly recognized as a way for residents to manage their own organic material and reduce methane emissions, and many jurisdictions promote or subsidize home compost bins. SB 1383 is implemented locally through Tulare County's solid-waste and franchise-hauler programs administered by the County's Resource Management Agency / Solid Waste division, which set the actual cart, collection, and contamination rules residents follow. Composting itself is encouraged; the legal obligation is to divert organics from the landfill - whether by using the green/organics cart, self-hauling, or composting on-site. Large-scale or commercial composting operations are separately regulated by CalRecycle and may need state permits, but a homeowner composting yard and kitchen scraps for personal garden use is a recognized, low-regulation activity. Compost piles should still avoid creating a nuisance (odor, vectors/rodents) that could draw County code or health enforcement.