Knox County does not prohibit backyard composting for households. The zoning code only regulates commercial-scale composting facilities, which are solid-waste processing uses permitted on review, not home compost piles.
Residential backyard composting of yard and kitchen waste is not restricted by a Knox County ordinance; keep piles from becoming a nuisance (odor, vermin) to avoid the property-maintenance provisions. The zoning ordinance treats a 'composting facility' as a solid-waste processing facility that requires use-on-review approval and must meet development standards — this targets commercial operations, not household bins. So a homeowner can compost freely, while a business processing waste must go through the planning-commission review process.
No county penalty for tidy home composting. A pile creating odor, pests or debris can trigger a nuisance/dirty-lot notice; commercial composting without use-on-review approval violates the zoning ordinance.
Other ordinances people look up for this city. Green dot = verified primary-source excerpt.
Knoxville, TN
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Knoxville, TN
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