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

Sec. 24-27 governs where residential carts sit before and after collection. Containers must be rolled to the roadside no earlier than the day of pickup and brought back in by the resident the same day; Sec. 24-27(b) makes clear they cannot be left at the curb overnight. Once returned to the property, a cart has to sit either inside a carport or garage, or behind the line formed by extending the front of the house toward the street, unless it is hidden from the street by shrubbery, foliage, a fence or wall.

A cart left forward of that line, or roadside, the day after a scheduled pickup and not screened as required lets the city move it for the resident, at a charge fixed by Sec. 24-47. Beyond placement, Sec. 24-27 makes the person issued a city cart responsible for keeping it in good working condition, for reporting a stolen, lost or damaged cart to the city, for keeping lids attached and closed, for using it only for the acceptable waste stream it was issued for, garbage, recycling or yard waste, and for keeping it free of standing water.

Carts are issued to a specific address and stay with the property; if a home sits vacant, the city should be notified to pick the container up, and a new one is issued on reoccupancy. Violations of the container rules fall under the general Chapter 24 penalty, Sec. 24-2: conviction is punished as provided in Sec. 1-6 of the Code, with each day of a continuing violation a separate offense.