Columbia County, GA Trash & Recycling: Recycling Requirements (2026)
Key Facts
- Rule
- Yard trimmings can't mix with solid waste (§ 70-5(b))
- Covered material
- Grass clippings, leaves, pine straw, shrubbery, limbs
- Landfill limit
- Barred from lined/leachate-collection landfill cells
- Required handling
- Sort, stockpile, chip, compost, mulch, or recycle
- County policy
- Board policy to encourage recycling whenever practicable (§ 70-12)
Summary
Columbia County bars mixing yard trimmings, grass clippings, leaves, pine straw, shrubbery, and limbs, into regular solid waste and keeps them out of lined landfill cells; section 70-5(b) instead requires they be sorted, stockpiled, chipped, composted, mulched, or otherwise recycled. County policy under section 70-12 separately commits to encouraging recycling countywide.
(b)Yard trimmings shall not be placed in or mixed with solid waste. Yard trimmings include, but are not limited to, grass clippings, leaves, pine straw, shrubbery and limbs. Yard trimmings shall not be disposed of at any solid waste disposal facility which has liners and a leachate collection system or requires vertical expansion within the county. Yard trimmings shall be sorted and stockpiled, or chipped, composted, used as mulch or otherwise beneficially reused or recycled to the maximum extent feasible. Yard trimmings which are to be collected by any person other than the property owner shall be sorted and stored in such a manner as to facilitate collection, composting or other handling.
Official source re-checked September 7, 2026: no newer edition of the code had been published (publisher’s edition: Code of Ordinances: Supplement 54).
Full Breakdown
Section 70-5(b) sets a specific rule for yard debris: 'Yard trimmings shall not be placed in or mixed with solid waste,' and the term expressly includes, but is not limited to, grass clippings, leaves, pine straw, shrubbery and limbs. Trimmings also 'shall not be disposed of at any solid waste disposal facility which has liners and a leachate collection system or requires vertical expansion within the county,' steering yard debris away from the county's engineered landfill cells. ' Where someone other than the property owner collects the trimmings, they 'shall be sorted and stored in such a manner as to facilitate collection, composting or other handling,' putting the sorting burden on the generator, not the hauler.
Section 70-5(a) backs this with a broader authority: the board of commissioners can, by resolution, limit or restrict what substances or materials may go into any county-owned or operated landfill, transfer station, or disposal facility, on top of any federal or state restriction already in place. Separately, section 70-12 states the board's countywide recycling policy: the board finds it in the public's interest, for health, safety, and welfare reasons, to recycle as many waste materials as possible in order to reduce the accumulation of litter and waste within the county, and declares it the policy of the county to encourage recycling whenever practicable.
Violations & Fines
Mixing yard trimmings into regular solid waste, or dumping them at a lined landfill cell, is enforced under Chapter 70's general penalty in section 1-9: up to 60 days in jail and a $1,000 fine, with each day of noncompliance a separate offense under section 70-13. The county attorney can also seek an injunction or abatement order under section 70-10 against a hauler or property owner who keeps violating the sorting requirement.
Frequently Asked Questions
Can I put grass clippings and leaves in my regular trash can?
Why can't yard waste go to the county landfill?
Does Columbia County require curbside recycling pickup?
Who has to sort yard trimmings, me or my hauler?
Sources & Official References
Other rules in Columbia County
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