Rockland County, NY Landscaping Rules: Composting (2026)

Chapter 350 regulates how yard waste must be bagged and delivered for hauler pickup, but it carves out backyard composting entirely. " That means a resident who composts grass clippings, leaves and cuttings on their own property, rather than bagging them for curbside collection, is not violating the county's mandatory yard-waste set-out duty in § 350-8A. The clause is a proviso attached to the residential yard-waste section, so it only exempts noncommercial composting; a landscaper or commercial operation collecting and composting yard waste as a business still falls under the landscaper rules in § 350-13 and the "YARD WASTE COMPOSTING FACILITY" structure defined in § 350-2, which applies to publicly owned facilities designated by the Rockland County Solid Waste Management Authority.

Because the proviso opens "where allowed by law or regulation," any bin size, setback-from-property-line or odor standard for a home compost pile is set by the resident's town or village, not the county code, since Rockland's five towns hold that land-use and property-maintenance authority. The county's own text neither requires a permit nor sets a container standard for a home composting pile; it only confirms the practice will not be treated as a set-out violation.