Moore County, NC Trash & Recycling: Bin Placement Rules (2026)

Section 8-155, part of the Solid Waste article adopted in 1987, requires every owner, occupant, tenant or lessee in unincorporated Moore County to store garbage in a manner approved by the county health director or director of solid waste; refuse left to accumulate outside an approved container violates the section on its own. The container itself must be of a type the health director approves, built with lifting handles and fly-tight covers that stay closed except while waste is being added or removed, so scavenging animals and blowing debris cannot get in.

The health director may waive the specific construction standard for a container shown to meet equivalent health standards on a case-by-case basis. Owners must keep enough containers on-site to hold at least a full week's worth of garbage between collections, reflecting the weekly pickup cycle set in the adjoining Sec. 8-156, and every container has to be kept clean enough that it produces no odor or other nuisance. The county's Health Department and Solid Waste Department share inspection authority under Sec. 8-162, alongside the Sheriff's Department, and the storage rule sits in the same article as the container-site use rules in Sec. 8-181 that govern where residents may drop off waste that is not picked up curbside.