Franklin County, KY Trash & Recycling: Yard Waste Collection (2026)

Franklin County Code § 50.03 defines YARD WASTE for the Fiscal Court's solid waste chapter. It covers leaves, small branches, and grass clippings from a residence, in a pile limited to ten feet in length by five feet in width by three feet in height, with branches stacked parallel to one another. Ends of woody material should not exceed six inches in diameter, and the definition adds that two county personnel members should be able to dispose of the yard waste. That is the standard the county road department applies to material headed for its wood chipper.

Section 50.07, the approved disposal methods table for unincorporated Franklin County, Kentucky, assigns yard waste to disposal through the county for chipping, mulching and/or composting. The same table sends bulk waste to curbside collection or direct landfill disposal and ordinary trash to landfill-bound containers or dumpsters, so yard waste has its own channel apart from the trash bin.

The definition also names what the chipper cannot take. Tree root balls and wood gardening materials should go in the resident's trash bin or to the county landfill. Weeds should go in the trash bin or be dropped off at a county yard waste event. The code calls these items unsuitable for the road department wood chipper.

Section 50.06(C) closes off the shortcut of dumping brush elsewhere. It makes it unlawful to dispose, throw, dump or cause to be disposed trees, tree limbs, brush or other forms of solid waste anywhere and in any manner other than as the subchapter defines. Under § 50.08(A), each citizen is responsible for ensuring the waste he or she generates is disposed of consistent with § 50.07. The County Judge/Executive may appoint a Solid Waste Management Coordinator under § 50.04 to enforce and manage the county solid waste program.