Greenwich, CT Trash & Recycling: Bin Placement Rules (2026)

Chapter 9's Article 1, rewritten in full by the Representative Town Meeting on September 21, 2009, governs how Greenwich households store and set out trash. Section 9-1(2) defines an approved container simply as one that is covered and watertight. Section 9-3, Storage containers, builds three requirements on that definition: acceptable solid waste, meaning ordinary garbage and refuse the Town is permitted to collect, excluding recyclables, bulky waste and hazardous waste, must be stored in an approved container; garbage specifically must be drained and wrapped before it is placed inside; and the container itself must be kept in a clean and sanitary condition at all times, not just at set-out.

Section 9-2 backs this with a general rule that accumulating solid waste anywhere other than in an approved container is prohibited outright. These container rules sit apart from the collection-frequency rule in Section 9-4 and from the transportation and tipping-fee rules in Section 9-5, and none of them singles out balconies, screening from view or a specific set-out time; the Code's requirement is limited to the container itself being covered, watertight and sanitary. The Commissioner of Public Works, acting through the Superintendent of the Recycling, Waste Collection and Disposal Division created in Section 9-1(9), administers the chapter, and a licensed waste collector who finds waste outside an approved container can be part of the enforcement chain under Section 9-8's license-revocation power.