Imperial County, CA Landscaping Rules: Composting (2026)

Imperial County's composting obligations flow primarily from state law — Senate Bill 1383 — rather than from a stand-alone county landscaping ordinance. SB 1383 requires jurisdictions to provide organic-waste collection and requires residents and businesses to divert food and yard organics from landfills, targeting large reductions in landfilled organics. In the Imperial Valley, SB 1383 is administered by the Imperial Valley Resource Management Agency (IVRMA), a joint agency whose members are the County of Imperial and the cities of Brawley, Calexico, Calipatria, El Centro, Holtville, Imperial, and Westmorland. Under IVRMA's residential program, residents are required to subscribe to and participate in organic curbside (green-container) collection and to sort organics correctly; some jurisdictions allow residents to self-haul organic waste to a composting facility instead, with self-haul requirements provided by the jurisdiction. On-site/backyard composting of yard and food scraps is a recognized SB 1383 diversion method and is generally allowed for residents, subject to keeping the pile from becoming a vector (rodent/fly) or odor nuisance — which would be addressed through the county's general public-nuisance authority. Day-to-day collection in the unincorporated county is handled through the Imperial County Public Works franchise-hauler system. There is no county code provision found that bans home composting; the practical limits are nuisance/vector control and the SB 1383 duty to divert organics.