Owensboro, KY Trash & Recycling: Bin Placement Rules (2026)

Owensboro Municipal Code § 26-263 governs when and where mobile containers must sit. Carts must be at the curb before 6:00 a.m. on the scheduled collection day; if a cart isn't out when the truck passes, it will not be collected until the next scheduled pickup, so a late cart means a full week's wait. Once serviced, the cart must be removed from the curb that same day and stored behind the plane of the front wall of the residence, excluding porches, or wherever else the sanitation manager directs or approves.

Leaving the cart at the curb is a violation enforceable by citation from a code official. The ordinance builds in a warning step: after a notice of violation is issued, if the cart is still at the curb 24 hours later, a citation issues carrying a $25 fine plus a $25 administrative service fee, for a combined $50 per occurrence. Repeated timeliness problems escalate differently: if a location repeatedly fails to have its cart out for pickup, the sanitation manager can issue written notice that a return trip will be treated as a special collection, adding a $25 service fee to the monthly sanitation bill for each required return.

Notices of violation and citations under this section use the same forms and appeal process as the property maintenance ordinance in chapter 5, article IV, and any appeal must be in writing, state the grounds, and be delivered to the director of public works at 1410 West Fifth Street.