Lower Paxton, PA Landscaping Rules: Composting (2026)

Composting in Lower Paxton Township, Dauphin County, is addressed inside Chapter 165, Solid Waste, in the section on storage, handling and disposal of municipal waste and recycling (§ 165-12). Subsection H covers yard waste. Under the chapter's definition, yard waste is material such as tree trimmings, shrubbery and other organic landscape vegetation, and the definition expressly leaves out grass clippings, fruits and vegetables, tree stumps, dirt and stones. Yard waste meeting that definition can be stored for longer periods, if necessary, until the next scheduled collection for such items or for the purpose of composting or burning such materials, but only in accordance with Township ordinances and only if the storage does not violate another ordinance or regulation of the Township.

Chapter 165 does not set a bin design, a pile size or a permit process for a backyard compost pile. What it does set is a curbside discipline. Under § 165-12.A(3), waste and recycling containers must be at the collection site before 6:00 a.m. on the scheduled collection day, can go out up to eight hours before that day, and must come off the right-of-way within eight hours afterward. The last sentence of that subsection extends those time limitations to the keeping and storing of compost bags, so a bag of yard material left at the curb past the window is a violation just as a cart would be. Leaf waste also appears on the mandatory recycling list for residential units in § 165-14.D.

Subsection J(2) of § 165-12 protects agriculture. Nothing in the article prohibits a farmer from carrying out normal farming operations, including composting or spreading of manure or other farm-produced agricultural waste, not otherwise prohibited or regulated for land application. The Board of Supervisors adopted these rules as part of the Township's solid waste ordinance, and the Township enforces them through the summary-offense process described in § 165-15.