Trash & Recycling in Greensboro, NC (2026)
8 verified trash & recycling rules for Greensboro, North Carolina, sourced directly from the municipal code and official government pages.
Verified from official government sources
Bin Placement Rules
Greensboro residents must set solid waste containers at the curb by 7:00 a.m. on collection day and pull them back to storage within twelve hours after pickup. Carts can't sit on the street on Saturday or before dusk Sunday, and damaging a city cart means buying a replacement.
Greensboro Trash Cart Placement Rules
Some RestrictionsGreensboro, NC Code of Ordinances § 25-13(c)-(d)
In order to collect solid waste, the owner or occupant of each business, or household shall place all solid waste in approved containers and place such solid waste containers between the curb or traveled portion of the street and the property line closest to the curb of the premises from which the same is placed at or before 7:00 a.m., on the day fixed for collection. All containers or carriers...
Bulk Item Disposal
Greensboro provides once-a-week curbside bulk trash pickup to residential units and small businesses on the automated collection system, but items must be separated from other refuse, placed by 7:00 a.m., and light enough for two workers to lift, or the city won't collect them.
Greensboro Bulk Trash Collection Rules
Some RestrictionsGreensboro, NC Code of Ordinances § 25-13(h)
Bulk trash collection shall be provided to residential units and small businesses served by the automated curb side collection system as approved by the solid waste manager or designee. Bulk trash collection shall be provided once per week. Bulk trash service will not be provided to large commercial establishments or industries. a. Bulk trash shall be placed to the curb by 7:00 a.m. on the coll...
Recycling Requirements
Greensboro's automated curbside system provides every eligible household a ninety-gallon container for recyclables under the city's Recycle Greensboro program, covering glass, newsprint, magazines, aluminum, cardboard and other city-designated items, with extra containers available for a fee.
Greensboro Recycle Greensboro Curbside Program
Some RestrictionsGreensboro, NC Code of Ordinances §§ 25-13(b)(1), 25-2
Automated collection system. Where the automated system is in use for the collection of wet and dry garbage and recyclables, the city approved automated containers shall have the capacity of approximately (90) gallons. The city shall provide one (1) ninety-gallon container for wet and dry garbage and one (1) ninety-gallon approved container for recyclables. Should this not be sufficient storage...
Illegal Dumping
Greensboro treats illegal dumping of trash, refuse, or hazardous waste on public or private property as a civil offense under City Code § 17-8, not a criminal charge. City-designated environmental enforcement officers can fine the person who dumped, or the registered owner of the vehicle used, five hundred dollars for a first offense and one thousand dollars for every offense after that.
Greensboro Illegal Dumping Civil Penalties
Heavy RestrictionsGreensboro City Code § 17-8(c)
The violator or owner shall be assessed a civil penalty of five hundred dollars ($500.00) for the first occurrence and shall be assessed a civil penalty of one thousand dollars ($1,000.00) for each subsequent offense, regardless of whether different vehicles registered to the same owner are used in separate violations....Violations of this article shall not be punishable as a misdemeanor or inf...
Yard Waste Collection
Greensboro collects yard waste weekly from curbside households, but grass, leaves and clippings must go in biodegradable paper bags or city carts, limbs must be bundled under five feet and fifty pounds, and only ten bags/bundles are allowed per household outside the fall leaf season.
Greensboro Curbside Yard Waste Collection
Some RestrictionsGreensboro, NC Code of Ordinances § 25-13(f)
Yard waste collection shall be provided to residential units and small businesses served by the automated curbside collection system as approved by the solid waste manager or designee. Yard waste collection shall be provided once a week. Grass clippings, small shrubbery clippings, leaves, and other small lawn debris shall be collected at the curbside provided that they are placed in biodegradab...
Dumpster Rules
Greensboro requires any business or multi-unit residential complex not eligible for curbside pickup to install a city-approved stationary container between six and eight cubic yards, capped at 8,000 pounds when full. Section 25-14 of the Code of Ordinances sets exact placement, access and cleanup standards enforced by the Environmental Services solid waste manager, with a container mandatory once refuse volume tops two 90-gallon carts between collections.
Greensboro Commercial Dumpster Placement Rules
Some RestrictionsGreensboro Code of Ordinances § 25-14
(b)Approved stationary containers. All owners eligible for this service shall provide a city approved stationary container for service by city collection vehicles. The container capacity shall not be less than six (6) cubic yards nor greater than eight (8) cubic yards and shall not exceed eight thousand (8,000) pounds of gross weight when filled.(c)Placement of containers. The required stationa...
Collection Schedule
Greensboro's solid waste manager sets citywide collection routes and schedules, and no owner or occupant may prohibit or prevent weekly solid waste collection at their premises. Curbside service runs once a week on a fixed day, with public notice required before any schedule change.
Greensboro Mandatory Weekly Trash Collection
Some RestrictionsGreensboro, NC Code of Ordinances §§ 25-11, 25-13(a)
The solid waste manager shall establish collection routes and schedules and may alter these routes and schedules from time to time. The solid waste manager may establish and revise from time to time a policy relating to the number of times per week the city will collect solid wastes from various classifications of premises and the maximum number of solid waste containers that the city will serv...
Recycling Rules
Greensboro charges $100 per dumpster every time, starting with the second occurrence, that crews have to empty a recycling container as regular trash because it's contaminated with items outside the Recycle Greensboro program.
Greensboro Contaminated Recycling Container Fee
Some RestrictionsGreensboro City Code § 25-21(j)
Emptying contaminated recycling container as trash. There is hereby established a charge for the emptying of a recycling dumpster as trash. The cost of such service shall be one hundred dollars ($100.00) per dumpster, such cost to be charged upon the second and all such subsequent collections. For purposes of this section, trash shall mean any item(s) not included in the city's "Recycle Greensb...
Looking for Guilford County county-wide rules?
County ordinances apply to unincorporated areas and may supplement Greensboro city rules.
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