Ocala, FL Trash & Recycling: Bin Placement Rules (2026)

Section 54-35(j) governs when residential and commercial solid waste containers can sit at the curb in Ocala. Containers may go out no earlier than 7:00 p.m. on the evening before the scheduled collection day and must come back off the curb by 7:00 a.m. of the day after collection, a roughly twelve-hour curbside window rather than a container left out around the clock. After the truck comes through, every container, whether it belongs to the city or was privately purchased, has to be returned to a secure spot on the property.

Storage between pickups is also restricted: except for containers kept in a carport or garage, a container cannot sit any closer to the street than the line formed by extending the front of the building outward, unless it is screened from public view by shrubbery, foliage, a fence or a wall. That screening option gives property owners with a shallow front yard a way to keep containers near the street without violating the setback, as long as the container is not visible from the public right-of-way.

Subsection (n) attaches a specific penalty to the whole section: a $25.00 fine plus abatement of the violation, meaning the city can also require the container to be moved or hidden, not just pay the fine.