Portland, ME Trash & Recycling: Bin Placement Rules (2026)

Chapter 12, Article I of Portland's Code of Ordinances sets the container duty in three tiers. Section 12-18(a) requires tenants, lessees or occupants of one- and two-family residential properties to provide and keep within the building or upon the lot suitable and sufficient containers to receive the accumulation of solid waste between collections. Section 12-18(b) shifts that duty to the owner or owner's agent once a residential building holds more than two families, and Section 12-18(c) extends it to hotels, restaurants, boarding houses, public warehouses, markets, bakeries, grocery stores and fruit stands.

Section 12-19 backs the container duty with a ban on letting solid waste or recyclable material pile up anywhere on residential or commercial premises except inside a suitable container. 1 adds a recycling-specific rule: only recyclable material goes in a recycling container, and mixing garbage into one draws double the standard fine under Section 12-30. Section 12-20 covers the container itself, it must be kept clean, and no one can remove, destroy, mutilate or repurpose a container furnished for waste or recycling storage. Enforcement runs through Section 12-27: the chief of police handles violations on city streets and public property, while the chief of police and the building authority together enforce the private-property provisions, both with power to bring civil or criminal actions through the corporation counsel.

Section 12-30 sets the general penalty ladder for Chapter 12 offenses at $100 for a first violation, $200 for a second, and $300 plus attorney's fees and costs for a third and each violation after that, with every day a violation continues counted as a separate offense.