St. Johns County, FL Trash & Recycling: Dumpster Rules (2026)

St. Johns County Land Development Code Sec. 04, "Accessory Uses," lists what a commercial, office, or planned-district property may add alongside its main building. 3 folds waste dumpster pads and containers into the same category as air conditioning compressors and other equipment serving the main use structure, and it attaches one specific limit: the dumpster pad and containers cannot be located less than seven feet from the property line. That is the only numeric standard the LDC applies directly to commercial dumpster placement; there is no separate roll-off container section elsewhere in Article II.

The same Sec. 04 accessory-use standards are cross-referenced elsewhere in the code (for example the setback discussion at line 16932 in the county's posted PDF, which excludes Sec. 04 accessory uses from certain setback exemptions), confirming this is the operative dumpster-placement rule countywide rather than a district-specific overlay clause. Separate overlay districts (West Augustine, South Anastasia, Mid-Anastasia, North Coastal, Vilano Beach Town Center) carry their own screening language requiring dumpsters and trash receptacles to be screened from rights-of-way and intersecting streets, but those are visual-screening rules layered on top of, not a substitute for, the countywide seven-foot placement setback in Sec.

3. A commercial property owner placing a roll-off or permanent dumpster pad must site it outside that seven-foot buffer along every property line, in addition to meeting any applicable overlay screening standard if the parcel falls within one of those districts. Site plans submitted to Growth Management's Planning and Zoning division show the dumpster pad location and dimensions so staff can confirm the setback before a certificate of occupancy issues.