Johnson County, KS Trash & Recycling: Yard Waste Collection (2026)

Johnson County's Code of Regulations for Solid Waste Management, enforced by the county Environmental Department, treats yard waste (leaves, grass clippings, and tree and brush trimmings) as a restricted material separate from ordinary trash and from recyclables. " The same section imposes a parallel hauling restriction: licensed haulers collecting from residential property in the county may not pick up yard waste at all unless it is "segregated from solid waste, placed in a container suitable for composting, or appropriately bundled and tied," and then delivered only to a facility the Environmental Department has authorized to accept yard waste for composting, mulching, or other approved processing.

Every landfill, transfer station, and materials recovery facility operator must also submit a written Solid Waste Restriction Operations Plan (SWROP) to the Environmental Department describing how it will keep yard waste out of the regular disposal stream, including load-monitoring procedures, random inspections, hauler-notification steps, and signage to deter improper dumping; the plan is reviewed at initial permitting and again at every annual renewal. Licensed haulers face the same SWROP requirement under Article 4, Section 4, covering employee training on restricted materials, customer notification obligations, and recordkeeping the department can audit for compliance.

These rules apply only in unincorporated Johnson County; Overland Park, Olathe, Shawnee, Lenexa, Leawood, Prairie Village, Gardner, and Merriam run their own yard waste and hauling programs under their own municipal codes.