Prince George's County, MD Trash & Recycling: Mandatory Organics Recycling (2026)

Subtitle 21, Division 4 of the County Code, the recycling program chapter, builds its organics policy around a pilot rather than a household mandate. Sec. " That language, added by CB-30-2014 and carried forward through CB-12-2018 and CB-64-2021, only obligates the Director of the Department of the Environment to build out infrastructure and evaluate a countywide rollout; it does not require any resident, landlord, or business to separate food waste from garbage. The broader recycling program in the same Division stays voluntary by design: Sec.

21-142(b) describes "the opportunity for the voluntary source separation of designated recyclable materials" from single-family residences, condominiums, rental facilities, and commercial and industrial sites. Sec. have not been met," at which point the Director "shall develop a Countywide mandatory recycling program," with 30 days' newspaper notice required under Sec. 21-142(f) before any such program takes effect. The Code also defines the activity narrowly, at Sec. 1): "Food composting means the controlled biological decomposition of food waste and scraps for the purpose of producing compost materials," confirming the term covers a processing method, not a household duty.

Until the Director formally invokes Subsection (e) for food scraps specifically, participation in curbside or drop-off composting remains an opt-in choice layered on top of the County's regular Department of the Environment collection contracts.