Colonie, NY Trash & Recycling: Bin Placement Rules (2026)

Town Code § 62-45M, part of the Property Maintenance chapter's general requirements, requires every building owner whose garbage, rubbish, mixed refuse or ashes is collected to keep enough refuse containers on hand to hold everything that accumulates between pickups. Those containers must be flytight, rodent-tight and watertight and kept covered at all times, a standard the Building Department enforces alongside the rest of Chapter 62's yard-maintenance rules. The size limit sits on top of that: no garbage, rubbish, waste, yard-waste or recycling receptacle larger than 96 gallons may sit in a side yard or front yard at all, unless it is out for weekly residential pickup or the storage location was specifically approved through a site plan.

Practically, that means a resident's large-capacity cart has to live in a backyard, garage or side location screened from the front/side yard the rest of the week and can only appear in the front or side yard on the day the hauler collects it. The Building Department Manager enforces this provision the same way as the rest of Article IV: under § 62-46, a notice of violation gives the owner 14 days to correct a non-lawn violation (seven days for lawn/weed issues), with a right to request a hearing before the Town Board within five days of service.

If the Town ends up doing the work itself, § 62-48 lets it recover costs, attorney's fees and disbursements as a lien on the property, collected like a Town tax.