Fayette County, GA Trash & Recycling: Dumpster Rules (2026)

Section 110-98, 'Refuse/dumpster area,' governs where nonresidential dumpsters and roll-off containers can sit in unincorporated Fayette County: the area must be located only to the side or rear of the principal structure, must comply with the setback and/or buffer requirements of the applicable zoning district, and must be screened per Article III of Chapter 110. That screening obligation is set by neighboring sections: Section 110-97 requires any outside service, refuse/dumpster, storage, or equipment area serving a nonresidential use to be screened from view, and Section 110-99 spells out how, walls and fences used for screening must achieve 100 percent screening before the county issues zoning approval or a certificate of occupancy, must be built of wood, brick, stone, concrete, or architecturally treated concrete block (or such a wall combined with vegetative screening), and, in the M-1 and M-2 industrial districts only, chain-link fencing with slat inserts may be used to meet the screening standard.

Together the three sections mean a commercial dumpster pad cannot go in a front yard, cannot ignore the district's setback or buffer line, and cannot sit exposed to the street or adjoining property. The rules trace to the 1992 Code Section 20-5-39 and were carried forward by Ordinance No. 2012-09 and Ordinance No. 2012-13. Planning and Zoning reviews dumpster placement at site plan approval, and a noncompliant enclosure is subject to the Code's general penalty in Section 1-7.