Carrollton, TX Trash & Recycling: Dumpster Rules (2026)

Carrollton's Code of Ordinances devotes Subchapter III of Chapter 50 (Solid Waste and Recycling) to commercial containers, the code's term for dumpsters, roll-offs and compactors used by businesses and apartment complexes. Section 50.43, Placement of commercial containers, forbids setting a container anywhere that blocks a road or street right-of-way, a drainage ditch, a sight triangle at an intersection, an alleyway, a fire lane, a storm drain, or utility meters. That sits alongside Section 50.49, Screening of commercial containers, which requires every commercial container to be screened according to Article XXV, Section C(5) and Article XXVII, Section J of the Carrollton Comprehensive Zoning Ordinance, tying the placement rule directly to the zoning code's screening standards.

Section 50.40 requires the doors and lids of a commercial container to stay closed except while it is actively being loaded, and Section 50.41 makes it an offense to damage, mark, paint, post a sign on, or leave visible graffiti on a container without the owner's or lessee's permission. Section 50.42 bars letting refuse accumulate around or near a container, and Section 50.46 sets a floor on service: commercial refuse must be collected from a commercial container at least once a week. Only the city or a permitted commercial private hauler may collect from a commercial container under Section 50.47; a private hauler must first obtain a solid waste collection permit under the franchise requirement in Section 50.70. All of these sections were adopted together by Ordinance 4272 on August 19, 2025.