Porter County, IN Trash & Recycling: Yard Waste Collection (2026)

Chapter 18, Article IV of the general code governs residential refuse collection in Porter County's unincorporated areas, including the town of Porter's surrounding township land outside its municipal limits. Section 18-82 requires any company operating a residential refuse collection service to "collect and dispose of refuse, de minimus amounts of yard waste, rubbish, and bulk items" produced by households, meaning grass clippings, leaves and small brush go out with the regular trash rather than through a dedicated yard-waste truck or drop-off site. There is no volume cap written into the text beyond the "de minimus" standard, so a resident with large quantities of brush or storm debris has no ordinance-guaranteed collection right and must arrange separate hauling.

Before a company may operate at all, it must file an annual letter of intent with the county solid waste management district, along with insurance certificates, no later than January 15 of each year; the district then issues a certificate of registration valid through January 14 of the following year. The requirement does not apply to government agencies, people hauling, composting, shredding or baling their own waste, or entities that only recycle. Missing the January 15 filing deadline is itself a violation under Section 18-86, separate from any complaint about missed yard-waste pickup.

Because the rule speaks to hauler registration rather than a resident subscription mandate, homeowners who self-haul or compost on their own property fall outside its reach entirely.