Mount Prospect, IL Trash & Recycling: Bin Placement Rules (2026)

Section 19.202.A.5 of the Mount Prospect Village Code governs where residents keep carts between pickups. Except for placement at the curb for collection, receptacles can be stored only in a side or rear yard and not forward of a principal building. The code closes an easy loophole by stating that porches, decks, stoops and overhangs are not part of the principal building, so a cart cannot sit on the front porch line and count as behind the house.

Corner lots get a stricter test. Receptacles cannot be placed in a corner or other exterior side yard unless they are completely screened from the adjacent street by a permanent fence or dense evergreen planting. A temporary screen or partial cover does not meet the wording, which requires complete screening.

Subsection A.6 adds a second placement rule: no item of solid waste, other than bulk items handled under subsection A.9.e, can be placed outside of any building or structure unless it sits in an approved receptacle. Loose bags on a porch or in a side yard therefore break the code even if the bags are tidy.

Timing at the curb is set by A.4: nothing goes on the parkway or alley before four thirty o'clock P.M. on the day before collection, and A.7 requires approved receptacles to be removed after collection on the designated day.

Multi-family and commercial dumpsters fall under the zoning code instead. Section 14.306.D.1 gives outdoor dumpsters and recycling containers the same setbacks as parking lots, and requires a solid wood fence or equivalent screening not less than six feet high: on all sides in nonresidential districts, and on no less than three sides for multiple-family residential developments.