Greenburgh, NY Landscaping Rules: Composting (2026)

Chapter 410's general anti-dumping rule bars depositing ashes, solid waste, grass cuttings, tree cuttings, leaves, offal or discarded matter of any type on any lot in the Town. B builds a single exception into that ban: small inoffensive compost heaps, such as may be utilized by a home gardener when stored on his own property and appropriately screened from view, are exempt from the dumping prohibition. Two conditions have to be met at once for the exemption to apply: the heap must sit on the gardener's own property, not a neighbor's yard or the Town right-of-way, and it must be screened from view rather than left visible from the street or adjoining lots.

The chapter does not set a maximum size, a required enclosure type or a materials list for what counts as compost, so a heap that grows beyond small and inoffensive, or that is not screened, loses the exemption and becomes ordinary illegal dumping under the same subsection. The section separately exempts downed trees within wooded areas at least 10 feet wide, whether felled naturally or under a Tree Removal Permit, unless the tree sits on a steep slope, in a flood-prone area, or is deemed hazardous by the Town Forestry Officer.