Durham, NC Trash & Recycling: Dumpster Rules (2026)

Section 58-65 draws the line between roll-out cart service and mandatory stationary (dumpster) service. Four categories of property must use a stationary container: customers generating more refuse between pickups than four roll-out carts can hold, clustered or attached residences such as apartments, townhouses and condominiums, any location city equipment can't safely access, and, the commercial case, "commercial developments in which four or more businesses operate from the same site or location." Every stationary-container collection is billed; Section 58-65 makes that a fee set by city council, distinct from the flat service most single-family roll-out customers receive.

Placement is governed separately by Section 58-68, which requires the container to sit where a servicing truck and equipment can reach it safely and conveniently, using all-weather streets or alleys of adequate strength, while minimizing excessive walking distance for tenants and staying as aesthetically acceptable as circumstances reasonably allow, all judged against the collection schedule the Director of Solid Waste approves. Section 58-66 backstops this with size specifications tied to unit count for townhouse, condominium and apartment developments (four cubic yards up to 12 units, six cubic yards up to 16, eight cubic yards beyond that, scaling further above 30 units), and Section 58-67 applies those requirements to any new construction, alteration or conversion permitted after March 2, 1970. Owners who believe strict enforcement creates unnecessary hardship can seek a variance from the director under Section 58-69, with appeal to city council within ten days of the director's ruling.