Iowa City, IA Trash & Recycling: Bin Placement Rules (2026)

Iowa City bin-placement rules are uniform city-wide because the City of Iowa City Resource Management Division operates all residential collection (no private-hauler patchwork). The rules sit in Iowa City Code 16-3H-8 (Collection and Disposal of Solid Waste) plus the published Solid Waste Rules and Regulations referenced by that section. Substantive placement rules: containers for residential refuse, recycling, yard waste, food waste, untreated wood waste bundles, and any other solid waste permitted to be collected by the City shall be placed for collection at the curb on the street upon which the residence fronts (so corner properties cannot put carts on the side street if the front address is on a different street); the cart must be at the curb by 7:00 a.m. on the scheduled collection day; lids must be fully closed (the automated-arm trucks cannot safely lift a cart with an open or propped-open lid); maintain a 3-foot clear zone on all sides of each cart (the mechanical arm requires the clearance); face the directional arrows on the lid toward the street so the arm can properly grip the cart; do not place carts where they obstruct the sidewalk, fire hydrants, mailboxes, parked vehicles, or driveways of neighbors. Set-out window: not earlier than the afternoon before, and pull empty carts back to a storage area (behind the front building line, beside the garage, in the garage) by the end of collection day. Carts left at the curb beyond collection day are cited as a Title 6, Chapter 1 public nuisance with the standard 7-day notice plus $100 administrative-fee enforcement. Snow-season note: do not place carts on top of snow piles or behind plow windrows in a way that blocks the truck arm - place at the curb where the arm has approach. Overflow garbage requires a City of Iowa City blue garbage sticker affixed to a bag no larger than 35 gallons / 50 lbs, placed next to the green cart by 7:00 a.m. Authority: 16-3H-8; Title 6 Chapter 1; Iowa Code §364.12 (sidewalk obstruction also implicates this).