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

Section 194-2 of the Town of Clay Code defines yard and garden waste as garden waste, leaves, grass clippings, weeds and brush, and Section 194-14 states that this material may not be accepted for disposal at any Agency facility, meaning the Onondaga County Resource Recovery Agency's Rock Cut Road waste-to-energy plant, its landfill, or its Ley Creek and Rock Cut Road transfer stations. Instead, the section allows yard and garden waste to be accepted for recycling at a yard waste composting facility of the hauler's choice within Onondaga County, or taken elsewhere; the Agency itself operates composting sites at Jamesville and Amboy under the definitions in § 194-2.

Because Chapter 194's approved-disposal-site mandate in § 194-1 and § 194-2 applies only to solid waste bound for in-state disposal, yard waste is carved out of that requirement entirely rather than merely rerouted. Chapter 194, adopted September 18, 2000 by Local Law No. 1-2000, is enforced by the Town Code Enforcement Officer, Town Building Inspector, Highway Superintendent, Onondaga County Sheriff's Department, New York State Police and Department of Environmental Conservation officers under § 194-19C. Section 194-20's penalty table does not list a specific fine tied to § 194-14, so a violation falls under the chapter's general offense-and-remedy provisions in § 194-19, including daily separate offenses and the Town Board's option to seek a compliance injunction.