Doña Ana County, NM Trash & Recycling: Dumpster Rules (2026)

Section 287-5 of the Code of Doña Ana County requires every construction, remodeling, demolition or maintenance site to keep solid waste and debris contained rather than piled loose. Subsection (B)(1)(a) authorizes two types of sanitation-department containers for that debris: open-top 'roll-off containers,' used for heavier, non-windborne material such as earth, brick, concrete and shingles, and lidded overhead-dump containers of at least three cubic yards, used for lighter or windborne debris. A contractor may substitute other containers, including dump trucks or fenced enclosures, only if the County approves the request along with the building permit under § 287-5(B)(1)(b).

Once containers are on site, § 287-5(B)(2) requires that any container with a lid stay closed at all times except while it is actively being filled or emptied, and § 287-5(B)(3) requires enough containers on site to keep the project in compliance. Placement is also restricted: § 287-5(B)(4) requires every container to sit no more than 200 feet from the construction site it serves, though a single set of containers may be shared by more than one nearby construction site. Certain bulky waste, such as major demolition debris, large street-construction waste, masonry rubble and roofing material, is exempted from the container requirement under narrower conditions in § 287-5(A)(1) through (5), but even those exempt piles cannot become a feeding or breeding place for pests. Chapter 287 reaches only the unincorporated county.