Haverhill, MA Trash & Recycling: Bin Placement Rules (2026)

City Code § 173-5 controls how trash and recycling containers sit out for collection in the City of Haverhill. Subsection A bars leaving any box, can, crate, cask, barrel, board, sign "or any other thing" on a street, sidewalk or public place, except approved receptacles holding house dirt, paper, rubbish or ashes (or swill and offal), and even those may only go out "on such day or days of the week as may be appointed for the regular collection by the Board of Health" for that section of the City.

Subsection B requires that everything placed in a barrel, box, can or other receptacle be "so packed and placed as to prevent" house dirt, paper, ashes, swill or offal from blowing or spilling onto the street, sidewalk or a neighbor's property, and requires residents to remove the empty container "promptly" once collection is finished, rather than leaving it at the curb. Subsection C is the City's separation rule for paper: "papers of every description shall not be mingled with other materials and shall be offered for collection in separate containers," keeping recyclable paper out of the regular rubbish stream.

The citywide penalty schedule at § 1-16B(2) singles out § 173-5C for enforcement by Health Agents and Health Inspectors: a written warning for a first failure to separate paper, and a $25 fine for a second. Subsections A and B carry no listed specific penalty, so a violation of the placement or packing rules instead falls under the Code's general penalty at § 1-16A, up to $300 per offense.