Home composting is permitted in Lehigh County; Pennsylvania's Act 101 encourages diverting yard waste. There is no county composting permit. Keep piles maintained so they don't become a nuisance, and never dump yard or food waste on others' land.
Pennsylvania's Municipal Waste Planning, Recycling and Waste Reduction Act (Act 101) promotes composting and leaf/yard-waste diversion, and Lehigh County's solid-waste plan supports it. Backyard composting for household use generally needs no permit. The limits are practical: a compost pile that attracts vermin, generates odor, or spills into public view can be cited under a municipal property-maintenance code as a nuisance, and Allentown enforces such standards. Do not deposit yard debris, grass, or food scraps onto another person's property, a vacant lot, or a waterway, which is illegal dumping under 18 Pa.C.S. §6501. Many municipalities also run seasonal leaf and yard-waste collection as an alternative.
Nuisance compost piles draw municipal property-maintenance citations. Dumping waste on others' land or waterways is scattering rubbish under 18 Pa.C.S. §6501, a summary-to-misdemeanor offense.
Other ordinances people look up for this city. Green dot = verified primary-source excerpt.
Lehigh County, PA
Pennsylvania sets no numeric hoarding limit, but the state's animal-neglect law makes it a crime to keep animals without providing each one adequate food, wa...
Lehigh County, PA
Pennsylvania Game Commission regulations make it unlawful to intentionally feed bear or elk anywhere in the Commonwealth, including Lehigh County. Feeding th...
Lehigh County, PA
Allentown's enforceable youth curfew is a daytime, school-hours curfew (Chapter 232): minors may not be in public places roughly 8:00 a.m. to 2:30 p.m. on sc...
Lehigh County, PA
Allentown zoning requires all light sources, including signs, to be shielded and aimed so they do not create a nuisance for neighbors or shine into passing m...
Lehigh County, PA
Allentown has no formal dark-sky ordinance, but its zoning code requires all light sources to be diffused so the bulb is not directly visible from streets, s...
Lehigh County, PA
Allentown limits yard/garage sales to four per year over no more than three consecutive daylight days. A sale sign may not be displayed more than 24 hours be...
See how Lehigh County's composting rules stack up against other locations.
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