Disposal Ban: Indiana, USA

Indiana

Indiana banned yard waste from disposal excluding grass clippings and small branches. Electronic waste was banned from disposal in 2011 as part of Extended Producer Responsibility legislation.

Action(s) Taken

Disposal bans

Who's Affected

Households
Businesses
Apartments

Population

6,600,000

Year Enacted

1992

Overview

Landfills cannot accept brush, leaves or woody vegetative matter greater than three feet.

Households, public schools, and small businesses are prohibited from disposing of electronics waste (e-waste) with solid waste destined for landfill or waste-to-energy (WTE)/ incinerator disposal.

E-waste includes:

Televisions and computer monitors (video display devices)
Computers (including laptops, netbooks, and notebooks) and peripherals (printers, keyboards, etc.)
VCRS and DVD players
E-Readers
Fax machines
Digital photo frames
Digital media players, including iPods and MP3 players
Camcorders / digital cameras
DVR/TiVo devices including cable and satellite boxes
Portable GPS navigation devices

Electronics manufacturers are required to set up and fund a collection system for used e-waste in Indiana. This comes from the Extended Producer Responsibility legislation which holds electronics manufacturers responsible for collecting and recycling their products.

Background

The state originally banned all yard waste from landfills in 1992, but permitted landfills with gas capture systems to continue to accept yard debris to help boost the production of landfill gas used for energy generation. Smaller landfills without gas capture systems objected because it put them at a competitive disadvantage.

In 1997 the law was revised to apply to all landfills, with no exception for gas capture. However, the revised law does not ban grass clippings or woody vegetative matter less than three feet in length.