Lacey, WA Trash & Recycling: Bin Placement Rules (2026)

Lacey Municipal Code § 14.23.082, the Commercial Design Guidelines, carries a Refuse subsection (H) with three rules for commercial sites in the City of Lacey. First, refuse container screening is required. The screen must be of a material and design compatible with the overall architectural theme of the associated structure, must be at least as high as the refuse container, and in no case can be less than six feet high. Second, no refuse container is permitted between a street and the front of the building, which pushes containers to the sides or rear of the site. Third, refuse collection areas must be designed to contain all refuse generated on site and deposited between collections, and deposited refuse cannot be visible from outside the refuse enclosure.

The same section reinforces those rules in its Site Design Guidelines. Service areas are not to be located between the building area and the street unless there is no possible alternative location, landscaping screening is to be used to diminish public visibility, and service areas are not to face a residential area. Refuse and recycle enclosures are listed alongside fences, walls and light fixtures as site features that must be designed to be consistent with the scale and aesthetic character of the building and to contribute towards a pedestrian environment.

These are commercial building standards, not a curbside cart ordinance. Chapter 8.04 LMC, the garbage and refuse chapter, prints no set-out day or hour. Its only container rule, § 8.04.030, requires containers of types approved by the health officer or other person designated by the mayor, watertight with raised bottoms and fitted with a tight cover.