South Dakota state law: yard waste disposal — landfill ban

SDCL 34A-6-67 prohibits landfilling of yard waste, lead-acid batteries, waste motor oil, and white goods at any solid waste facility in South Dakota — a ban that has been in effect since 1995. The South Dakota Department of Agriculture and Natural Resources (DANR) permits and regulates yard waste composting facilities under SDCL Chapter 34A-6 and the DANR Yard Waste Compost program (E1614V7 application form). Yard waste is defined to include leaves, grass clippings, and similar waste vegetative material — generally not including land-clearing debris, stumps, or large branches above specified diameters. Households must compost on-site, subscribe to a city/county yard-waste collection program, haul material to a permitted compost facility, or arrange for chip-and-mulch service. Sioux Falls operates a free yard-waste drop-off site; Rapid City contracts with private composters; smaller cities typically partner with county transfer stations. On-site backyard composting is generally permitted in any zoning district and is not state-regulated for residential scale. Burning yard waste is regulated by (a) DANR air-quality rules ARSD Article 74:36 (prohibiting burning of certain materials and requiring notification on burn days); (b) county sheriff authority under SDCL 34-37-19 to ban burning during elevated SD Grassland Fire Danger Index conditions; and (c) DANR statewide fire-danger suspensions under SDCL 34-37-16.1. Rural farmers and ranchers may dispose of farm/ranch vegetative waste on their own property without a state permit if the disposal does not threaten health, environment, or water quality (DANR guidance under SDCL 34A-6).

Landfilling yard waste violates SDCL 34A-6-67 and triggers SDCL Chapter 34A-6 administrative/civil enforcement against the generator and the facility (orders, civil penalties, permit conditions). Illegal dumping of yard waste off-site (e.g., dumping leaves in a ditch or vacant lot) violates SDCL 34A-6-87: under 10 lbs is Class 2 misdemeanor littering (SDCL 34A-7-6); 10–2,000 lbs is Class 1 misdemeanor; over 2,000 lbs knowingly is a Class 6 felony. Yard-waste burning during a county fire-restriction order violates SDCL 34-37-19 (misdemeanor).