Ada County, ID Trash & Recycling: Bin Placement Rules (2026)
Key Facts
- Curb distance
- No more than 4 feet from street
- Set-out window
- Evening before to 7:00 a.m.
- Return deadline
- Back in storage by 7:00 p.m.
- Container weight cap
- 60 pounds combined
- Approved carts
- 65- or 95-gallon wheeled, lidded
- Late/early set-out
- Not allowed curbside or in right of way
Summary
Ada County Code 5-2-4-3 sets the physical rules for curbside carts: containers must sit within four feet of the street, go out no earlier than the evening before collection and no later than 7:00 a.m. on pickup day, and come back off the curb by 7:00 p.m. that evening.
F. All sanitary containers shall be made available for conveyance to contractor's vehicles by placement no more than four feet (4') from the street, or as close as reasonably possible to the street, without obstructing parking areas, exit/entrances or pedestrian traffic. In cases where the contractor does not have reasonable access to the sanitary container, the containers may be kept in a place where agreed upon by the owner or occupant and the contractor, or at such place designated by the inspector. Sanitary containers set out farther than four feet (4') from the street may be subject to carry out service and an additional fee. G. Sanitary containers shall be placed for collection no later than seven o'clock (7:00) A.M. on the regularly scheduled collection day, but no sooner than the evening prior to collection. Sanitary containers may not be stored curbside or in the right of way. Upon collection, sanitary containers must be promptly returned to their regular storage area on the owner's premises no later than seven o'clock (7:00) P.M. on the day of collection.
Official source re-checked September 7, 2026: no newer edition of the code had been published (publisher’s edition: 2026 S-15: Code current through: Ord. 1018, passed 3-24-2026).
Full Breakdown
Section 5-2-4-3 governs how residential waste must be stored and presented for the county's contracted collection service. Subsection C requires residential waste to be kept in an approved sanitary container, capping the combined weight of a container and its contents at sixty pounds unless the contractor's semi-automated equipment can lift it, and listing the approved containers as the contractor's 65- or 95-gallon wheeled plastic carts with close-fitting lids, disposable paper sacks for leaf collection only, sanitary containers from one to eight yards for commercial-scale use, and temporary roll-off boxes for construction debris.
Contents cannot be compacted to the point that they obstruct free removal from the cart. Placement is set by subsection F: carts must be positioned for pickup no more than four feet from the street, or as close as reasonably possible without blocking parking, entrances or foot traffic; where the contractor cannot reasonably reach a cart at that distance, the owner and contractor, or the county inspector, can agree on an alternate spot, but a cart set out farther than four feet without that agreement can be charged an additional carry-out fee.
, meaning containers cannot be left curbside or in the right of way between collections. Subsection E makes the owner or occupant responsible for keeping the cart secure enough to avoid odors, health hazards and scattered waste, and allows the county to charge an added fee if it has to clean up spilled or scattered material. Subsection H separately requires anyone transporting waste by vehicle to secure or cover the load so nothing scatters, blows out or is lost in transit.
Violations & Fines
A violation of any part of section 5-2-4-3, from leaving a cart curbside past 7:00 p.m. to exceeding the sixty-pound weight limit, falls under chapter 5-2's general penalty at section 5-2-10(N): a misdemeanor punishable under Idaho Code section 18-113, with each day an uncorrected violation continues after citation treated as a separate offense. Owners can also be billed directly for a carry-out fee or a scattered-waste cleanup fee without a separate court case.
Frequently Asked Questions
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Sources & Official References
Other rules in Ada County
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