Columbia County, FL Trash & Recycling: Yard Waste Collection (2026)

Columbia County Code Chapter 90, Article III sets the county's flow-control rules for solid waste, and section 90-74 defines 'yard trash' as vegetative matter resulting from landscaping maintenance or land clearing operations, expressly including tree and shrub trimmings, grass clippings, palm fronds, and tree and tree stumps. Section 90-75(a) states the general rule that all solid waste generated in the incorporated and unincorporated areas of the county must go to the county's solid waste disposal facilities, but it carves out two exceptions: infectious and hazardous wastes, and yard trash or recyclable material.

That means yard trash is not subject to the county's flow-control mandate the way household garbage is. Section 90-76(3) reinforces the same carve-out on the hauling side: the article's general requirement that anyone collecting or hauling solid waste within the county hold a valid franchise or other authority from the board or municipality does not apply to the collection, hauling, or transporting of land clearing debris, farming trash and debris, hazardous or radiological waste, wrecked or dismantled vehicles, or yard trash. In practice, that lets residents, landscapers, or tree services move yard trash without the same franchise credential required for general garbage hauling.

Article III's general violations and penalties provisions still apply to other flow-control breaches: section 90-85 sets fines of up to $500.00 per violation for ordinary flow-control violations, with escalating franchise penalties for a franchised hauler's repeat violations, though those penalties attach to the waste categories the code does regulate, not to properly handled yard trash itself.