Cayuga County, NY Trash & Recycling: Yard Waste Collection (2026)

Section 230-9 of the Cayuga County Code defines 'RECYCLABLES' for purposes of the county's recycling article to include, alongside glass jars and bottles, tin cans, aluminum and plastic containers, a fifth category: yard wastes, grass clippings, leaves, garden debris and brush. Because yard waste falls inside that definition, the same duties that apply to bottles and cans apply to it: § 230-10 requires anyone generating yard waste destined for a county disposal facility to source-separate it from other solid waste, and § 230-12 bars burying it, or any other separated recyclable, at a county disposal facility.

Collection services covered by § 230-11 must give residents and businesses a way to route that separated yard waste into a recycling opportunity rather than the regular trash stream. The code notes that its list of recyclable categories, yard waste included, is subject to change according to market conditions, and the Health Committee can expand the recyclables list further under § 230-15 after soliciting input from collectors and facility operators and giving at least three months' notice.