Florence County, SC Trash & Recycling: Dumpster Rules (2026)

Florence County's zoning ordinance treats dumpsters as a visual nuisance to be hidden, not just a utility fixture. Section 30-122(a) defines screening as a buffer designed to block or obscure a particular element or use from view, and Section 30-122(b) states the purpose is to minimize the visual impact of unsightly open storage and refuse disposal facilities. Section 30-122(c) sets the trigger: screening is required for any open storage area not devoted to retail sales that is visible from a public street, and the list of covered uses expressly includes trash containers of four or more cubic yards, alongside shipping containers, building materials, appliances and salvage materials.

That size threshold captures standard commercial front-load dumpsters, which typically run two to eight cubic yards, so most business dumpsters serving retail, office or industrial sites in unincorporated Florence County trigger the requirement. Section 30-122(d) specifies how: an opaque divider not less than six feet high, or as tall as the dumpster itself if that is taller, using sight-obscuring evergreen plantings, earth berms, walls, fences, careful siting, building placement, or another method the zoning administrator approves. Florence County's Planning and Building Inspection departments administer this requirement as part of site plan and building permit review under Chapter 30, and a dumpster enclosure that falls short of the six-foot or object-height standard can hold up plan approval or draw a zoning violation once the site is built.