St. Tammany Parish, LA Landscaping Rules: Composting (2026)

Sec. 38-162(e) of the solid waste chapter's special-issues article carves out backyard composting from the parish's otherwise permit-heavy solid waste licensing scheme: a yard waste compost site not exceeding 300 cubic feet in size may be allowed on a land parcel without a permit or license, provided the site is properly managed to prevent nuisance or health and safety problems. The exemption only covers grass clippings, leaves and brush limbs, the same materials the code separately defines as a 'backyard compost site' in Sec. 38-3 as compost drawn from food scraps, garden wastes, weeds, lawn cuttings, leaves and prunings generated by a single-family household, apartment building or single commercial office where a member is the owner, occupant or lessee.

Anyone running a larger operation, or one that processes other feedstocks, falls outside the 300-cubic-foot exemption and back into the chapter's general licensing requirements for composting facilities under Sec. 38-31 and Sec. 38-138, which require a Louisiana DEQ permit and a parish solid waste management license before operating any composting or co-composting facility. The 300-cubic-foot limit applies regardless of lot size, and the code makes clear that size alone does not excuse a nuisance: 'No household shall make a nuisance of their yard waste compost site regardless of size,' meaning odor, pest or drainage complaints can trigger enforcement even for a compost pile that stays under the cubic-footage cap.