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

Section 62-30(a) sets the storage standard that carries the county's "secured load" requirement through from can to curb. Garbage must be stored in a container approved by the director of solid waste, built of durable material so it is strong, watertight, not easily corrodible, fly-proof and rodent-proof, with lifting handles and tight-fitting covers kept in place at all times except while waste is being deposited or removed. Hand-collected containers are capped at 96 gallons; dumpster-collected containers may be sized as the franchise collector specifies instead.

Owners must keep enough containers on hand to hold at least a week's accumulation, and containers must be kept clean enough to prevent insect breeding, odor or nuisance. No one may damage, deface or remove a garbage receptacle or scatter its contents, and cardboard boxes or crates used as receptacles must be securely tied or taped and are single-use only, collected along with their contents. Subsection (b) requires all solid waste be removed from a property at least once a week, either by the owner directly or through the area's franchised collector, and bars anyone from collecting residential waste from a roll-cart container for compensation without a county franchise.

Subsection (c) is the secured-load rule proper: vehicles and containers hauling waste must be loaded and moved so contents cannot fall, leak or spill, and must be covered or secured to stop material blowing out, with any spillage picked up immediately by the hauler; the rule extends to private cars or trucks hauling waste to a landfill or transfer station. Disposal is confined to an approved sanitary landfill, a compliant incinerator, or another method the director of solid waste approves, and Sec. 62-32 separately bans dumping yard waste, white goods, used oil, lead-acid batteries, antifreeze or aluminum cans at the county landfill.