O.C.G.A.
O.C.G.A.

O.C.G.A. § 12-8-40.2 (2019)

Yard trimmings disposal restrictions

✓ O.C.G.A. (archive.org 2024 item): print volumes of 2004-2024, per-volume vintage; older volumes partly replaced by 2019 Release 73 text; no 2025 or 2026 Acts
Code text and O.C.G.A. statutory annotations on this page reflect the 2019 Official Code of Georgia Annotated (Public.Resource.Org Release 73, 2019-08-21; public domain per Georgia v. Public.Resource.Org, 2020). The Syfert case-law annotations in Notes of Decisions, below, are current.
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(a) Each city, county, or solid waste management authority may impose restrictions on yard trimmings which are generated in or may ultimately be disposed of in its area of jurisdiction; provided, however, that under no circumstances shall yard trimmings be placed in or mixed with municipal solid waste, except at:

(1) Landfills restricted to construction or demolition waste;

(2) Inert waste landfills; or

(3) Lined municipal solid waste landfills having operating landfill gas collection systems directed to beneficial uses of landfill gas that promote renewable energy goals such as electrical power generation, industrial end use, or similar beneficial reuse.

(b) Except as otherwise provided in subsection (a) of this Code section, owners and operators of municipal solid waste landfills shall be prohibited from disposing of yard trimmings in municipal solid waste landfills.

(c) The Board of Natural Resources is authorized to develop guidelines to assist local governing authorities and others in the orderly stockpiling of yard trimmings at suitable sites, the chipping and composting of yard trimmings, and the distribution of the products resulting from such chipping and composting.

History

Code 1981, § 12-8-40.2, enacted by Ga. L. 1990, p. 412, § 1; Ga. L. 1992, p. 3276, § 18; Ga. L. 1993, p. 399, § 15; Ga. L. 2005, p. 1247, § 13/SB 122; Ga. L. 2011, p. 283, § 4/HB 274.

Annotations

The 2011 amendment, effective May 11, 2011, rewrote subsection (a); and substituted the present provisions of subsection (b) for the former provisions, which read: "Prior to September 1, 1996, each city, county, and solid waste authority is authorized but not required to impose restrictions on yard trimmings which are generated or may ultimately be disposed of in its area of jurisdiction. Such restrictions may include, but are not limited to, the restrictions stated in paragraphs (1) through (4) of subsection (a) of this Code section."

Law reviews. - For article on the 2011 amendment of this Code section, see 28 Ga. St. U.L. Rev. 165 (2011). For article, "Conservation and Natural Resources: Waste Management," see 28 Ga. St. U.L. Rev. 165 (2011).

For note on 1992 amendment of this Code section, see 9 Ga. St. U.L. Rev. 199 (1992).