Vanderburgh County, IN Landscaping Rules: Composting (2026)

010 of the county's Garbage Collection and Disposal chapter defines "Composting" as "the controlled and intentional biological decomposition of organic solid waste under aerobic conditions," expressly excluding "any environmentally harmful organic materials" from the definition. That definition matters because it sets the standard a resident's yard-waste pile has to meet to avoid being classified as unlawful trash. " Read together, the two chapters let a homeowner keep a compost pile of yard waste on their property without it being cited as a nuisance, so long as the pile is an active, ongoing, aerobic composting operation rather than an abandoned brush or leaf pile, and so long as any permit that separately applies to the operation has been obtained; the code does not spell out a standalone county compost-permit program of general application. 020(B)'s prohibition on depositing or leaving trash, debris, garbage, junk, or rubbish that could harbor pests, create a fire hazard, or become a nuisance.