Cherokee County, GA Trash & Recycling: Bulk Item Disposal (2026)
Key Facts
- Governing section
- Code of Ordinances § 46-124
- Mixing with trash
- Prohibited
- Lined landfills
- Yard trimmings barred
- Preferred handling
- Compost, mulch, recycle
- Maximum penalty
- $1,000.00 fine and/or 60 days
- Scrap tires
- Must follow EPD Ch. 391-3-4 (§ 46-125)
Summary
Cherokee County keeps yard trimmings, leaves, brush and prunings separate from household garbage: they cannot go into municipal solid waste, are barred from lined landfills, and must be sorted for composting, mulching or recycling.
(b)Restrictions:(1)Yard trimmings may not be placed in or mixed with municipal solid waste.(2)Yard trimmings are prohibited at all municipal solid waste disposal facilities located within the county having liners and leachate collection systems or requiring vertical expansion within their jurisdiction.(3)Yard trimmings shall be sorted and stored for collection in such a manner as to facilitate collection, composting, or other handling, and yard trimmings shall be sorted and stockpiled or shipped, composed, used as mulch or otherwise beneficially reused or recycled to the maximum extent feasible.(4)Any person in violation of this section shall be subject to fine not exceeding $1,000.00 and/or imprisonment not exceeding 60 days in the magistrate's court of the county.
Official source re-checked September 7, 2026: no newer edition of the code had been published (publisher’s edition: Code of Ordinances: Supplement 39 | Zoning: Supplement 35).
Full Breakdown
A. Section 12-8-22, as leaves, brush, grass clippings, shrub and tree prunings, discarded Christmas trees, nursery greenhouse vegetative residuals and vegetative matter from landscaping development and maintenance, excluding mining, agricultural and silvicultural byproducts. Three operative restrictions follow: yard trimmings may not be placed in or mixed with municipal solid waste; they are prohibited outright at any county municipal solid waste facility that has liners and leachate collection systems, or that requires vertical expansion; and they must be sorted and stored in a way that facilitates collection, composting or other handling, with the code directing that they be stockpiled, shipped, composted, used as mulch or otherwise beneficially reused or recycled to the maximum extent feasible.
A companion section, 46-125, folds scrap tire facilities into the same disposal chapter, requiring any scrap tire operation in unincorporated Cherokee County to comply with the state Environmental Protection Division's Rules for Solid Waste Management (Chapter 391-3-4) and the Comprehensive Solid Waste Management Act, with the county ordinance automatically updating whenever those state rules change. Both sections sit in Chapter 46, Article III, Division 2, Classification of Refuse for Disposal, adopted by Ord. No. 96-13 (yard trimmings) on September 10, 1996, and Ord. No. 2003-O-005 (scrap tires) on June 3, 2003.
Violations & Fines
Section 46-124(b)(4) sets its own penalty distinct from the general code fine: any violation of the yard trimmings restrictions is punishable by a fine not exceeding $1,000.00 and/or imprisonment not exceeding 60 days in the Cherokee County Magistrate Court.
Frequently Asked Questions
Can I put my yard trimmings out with my regular trash in Cherokee County?
Why can't yard waste go to some county disposal sites?
Does Cherokee County regulate scrap tire dumps?
Sources & Official References
Other rules in Cherokee County
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