Nevada County, CA Landscaping Rules: Composting (2026)

Nevada County expressly permits home composting in its Solid Waste ordinance (Article 8, Chapter IV of the General Code). Sec. G-IV 8.2.E provides that 'Composting on a noncommercial individual homeowner basis shall be accomplished in a nuisance-free, vector-free manner,' that 'household garbage shall be handled in such a manner that breeding and harborage areas are eliminated,' and that the operation 'shall include only those garbage wastes generated from the person's own domestic residence' - importing waste from elsewhere is prohibited. 'Yard waste' is defined (Sec. G-IV 8.1.C.39) to include lawn clippings, weeds, brush, branches, stumps, dirt, or rocks. Manure storage or disposal must also avoid creating a nuisance (Sec. G-IV 8.2.G). Layered on top of the county rule is California SB 1383, the statewide Short-Lived Climate Pollutant law, which requires jurisdictions to provide organic-waste (food and yard) recycling collection and to divert organics from landfills; the County and its franchised hauler implement SB 1383 through green-waste/organics carts. So the regulatory picture is: compost at home (nuisance-free, your own waste only) under Sec. G-IV 8.2.E, OR use the County's SB 1383 organics collection - and yard/green waste generated during fire fuel-reduction is 'Biomass' that may be recycled or used in a biomass program under the Hazardous Vegetation ordinance (Sec. G-IV 7.12.A).