Cocoa, FL Trash & Recycling: Bin Placement Rules (2026)

Cocoa Code of Ordinances § 9-27 governs where and when residential and commercial garbage carts, recycling carts, and mechanical containers may sit for collection. on collection day itself, per subsection (a). Subsection (b) bars placing carts in a way that obstructs sidewalks, streets, or rights-of-way, and sets a hard fifteen-foot buffer from any fire hydrant. Refrigerators and freezers set out for collection must have their doors removed under subsection (c), a safety measure aimed at preventing entrapment. Subsection (d) bars unwrapped razor blades, broken glass, sharp metal, light bulbs and fluorescent tubes going loose into carts because of the injury risk to collection crews, and subsection (e) requires hypodermic needles and syringes to be broken or otherwise rendered inoperable and wrapped before they go out.

Only pre-approved carts, mechanical containers, roll-offs, or compactors supplied by the city or its contractor may be used under subsection (f); the city can refuse service to a customer using the wrong container. Subsection (g) requires the empty container to be pulled back from the collection point the same day it's serviced. Subsection (h) makes it a violation for anyone other than the owner, occupant, tenant or lessee of the served premises to use that premises' container without written permission. Recycling carts stay on the premises between pickups under subsection (i), and a customer who moves out without returning the city-owned recycling cart is billed a five-dollar fee on the final water bill.