Rowan County, NC Trash & Recycling: Collection Schedule (2026)

Unlike many municipalities, unincorporated Rowan County does not run curbside residential garbage collection; instead, Section 19-28 places the duty directly on whoever owns, occupies, rents or leases a property. Subsection (a) bars letting solid waste accumulate on the property in any manner not prescribed by the article, and subsection (b) makes the owner, occupant, tenant or lessee responsible for storing, collecting and disposing of that waste on a regular basis, at a site or facility permitted to accept it. The county gives residents two disposal routes to satisfy that duty: hauling waste themselves to one of the county's Greenbox solid waste container sites under Section 19-29, open only during posted business hours and limited to residential waste from private citizens, or taking it directly to the county sanitary landfill under Section 19-46, which is open during business hours the board of commissioners sets and otherwise kept locked.

Garbage must be stored, while awaiting disposal, in a durable, rust-resistant, nonabsorbent container with a close-fitting, fly-resistant lid under Section 19-28(c), and each container must be cleaned often enough that no odor or nuisance develops. Recyclables such as cans, bottles, paper, cardboard and metal must go in rodent- and water-resistant containers under Section 19-28(e). S. 1, 153A-136 and 130A-294 and governs the unincorporated county and any municipality that has opted in and adopted it within its own limits.