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

Section 24-27(b) of the Fort Lauderdale Code of Ordinances puts the timing on the customer. Containers are placed at the roadside and removed from it on the day of collection. After the truck passes, every container on the property, whether city issued or privately owned, goes back to a secure location on the property. Roadside is a defined term in section 24-1: within two feet of the paved right-of-way.

The storage rule has one carve-out. A container kept inside a carport or garage is fine. Anywhere else, it cannot sit closer to the street than the extension of any existing building line that faces a street, unless shrubbery, foliage, a fence or a wall screens it from public view. Containers are not left roadside overnight. The enforcement trigger is the day after a scheduled collection: any container found roadside or forward of the building line facing a street that day, and not screened, is a violation subject to enforcement under Chapter 11. A June 2, 2026 amendment (Ord. No. C-26-18) rewrote this sentence, so older descriptions of the rule are out of date.

Placement itself is spelled out in section 24-28(e): households, multifamily residences and commercial establishments put all containers for collection at one single, easily accessible place, within two feet of the roadside and at least two feet from any obstacle or from each other, so the collection vehicle can service them. Bulk trash follows its own clock under section 24-26(6): it goes on the swale no more than 24 hours before the scheduled pickup date, and earlier placement is a violation that comes with a notice and a compliance date.

The container rules do not stop at placement. City containers are issued to an address and are not to be removed from the premises (24-27(a)). The holder maintains the container in good working condition, tells the city if it is stolen, lost or damaged, and reports defects. Lids stay attached and closed at all times, and containers are kept free of water or excessive liquids. The director of public works sets the actual pickup dates under section 24-26(7), with residential waste collected twice weekly or as scheduled, recyclables once weekly and yardwaste once weekly.

Who answers for a violation is wide. Section 24-4 makes owners, agents, tenants and lessees responsible, and in a multifamily building where the owner does not live on site, a designated responsible person shares that duty with the owner. Section 24-47(5) sets a container placement service charge of $5.00 per violation, per container, for repositioning a container that was not properly stored.