Pasco has no specific ordinance banning backyard composting, but accumulated yard debris and organic waste must not become a public nuisance, fire hazard, or vector/odor problem under the city's nuisance code. Curbside service and the BDI Transfer facility (1721 Dietrich Road) handle yard debris; the city's nuisance rules require dead/dying vegetation and rubbish to be controlled.
Pasco does not publish a dedicated home-composting ordinance, so backyard composting is generally allowed as long as it does not create a nuisance. The city's nuisance code (PMC Title 9 / PMC 12.12.110 and related sections) treats dead, dying or accumulated vegetation, rubbish, and conditions that are a fire hazard or a menace to public health and safety as public nuisances that the owner must abate. In practice that means a compost pile should be managed so it does not attract vermin, generate offensive odors, harbor a fire hazard, or spill onto neighboring property or the right-of-way. The city's Common Code Violations page lists dead/dying landscaping and accumulated debris among frequently cited issues. For disposal beyond home composting, residents can use curbside collection through the city's contracted hauler and can take yard debris and solid waste to the BDI (Basin Disposal Inc.) Transfer facility at 1721 Dietrich Road in Pasco; Basin Recycling also operates neighborhood drop-off centers across Franklin County. Because the specific operational details of composting are not spelled out in a single code section, residents who want to compost at scale should keep the pile contained and managed to avoid triggering the nuisance provisions, and confirm any current yard-waste collection options with the city or hauler.
Composting itself is not penalized, but a pile that becomes a public nuisance (odor, vermin, fire hazard, encroachment, or accumulated dead vegetation/rubbish) can be cited under the nuisance code and abated at the owner's expense after notice.
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