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

Sec. 14-36 sets where a container must sit for pickup: at the edge of the customer's property next to the street, reachable without entering a building or shelter and without climbing over or around an obstacle, though the city can waive the rule for handicapped or infirm residents. Loose horticultural piles have to be stacked separately from other refuse, kept off the pavement, and never left under overhead wires or tree limbs, and nothing may be dumped loose in a cart: everything goes in sealed bags or other holders under subsection (b).

Commercial containers sit on a concrete pad on the customer's own property, off the right-of-way, and must stay clear of parking that would block the truck; a driver who cannot reach a container tags it and the pickup rolls to the next scheduled day unless the customer pays for a special pickup. Sec. the morning after. A container left out early, left out late, or otherwise not stored as the code requires gets tagged by the city with a note on the account rather than an immediate charge; a container that keeps being placed wrong after the tag draws an additional fee set by the rate schedule on file with the city clerk.