Irving, TX Trash & Recycling: Bin Placement Rules (2026)

Section 33-8 of the Code requires that garbage bags and recycling bags shall at all times while outside be kept secure and closed except while the garbage bag or recycling bag is being filled, and that the doors or covers of receptacles, including commercial containers and compactors, shall at all times be kept secure and fastened except while being filled or emptied. Section 33-9(a) then fixes where materials go: bags shall be placed at the location designated by the city as the most accessible for collecting and removing the same, and any trimmed tree limbs, trunks, or hedge cuttings set out with them cannot exceed four feet in length or two feet in diameter.

Section 33-9(b) makes street placement the default rule for residential areas: the city refuse collection in residential areas shall be conducted from streets only except as hereafter provided. Alley collection is the narrow exception, and it is not automatic: a subdivision's property-owner organization must petition the city in writing, show it can maintain the alley to city standards, including a minimum sixteen-foot paved width and a reinforced six-inch concrete surface, and even then the city reserves at all times the right to require that refuse be placed for collection from the street.

Publicly owned alleys are never eligible for refuse collection under Section 33-9(c)(2), and brush is never collected in an alley regardless of any agreement; Section 33-9(c)(14) requires brush to go out at the curb instead.