Gary, IN Trash & Recycling: Dumpster Rules (2026)

Section 34-52(a) of the Gary Municipal Code sets container capacity requirements separately for different kinds of property. Single-family dwellings and smaller multiple dwellings and commercial buildings must simply provide enough containers to hold all the garbage, rubbish, ashes and construction waste produced between collections. For larger residential properties the rule gets specific: any multifamily dwelling, complex or apartment building with six or more units must maintain at least a 15-cubic-yard dumpster for every six units on the property. The Code allows flexibility in how that capacity is met, spelling out that two eight-yard dumpsters, or some other combination totaling at least the volume held by a 15-yard dumpster, satisfies the rule, so an owner is not locked into a single container size as long as the aggregate volume clears 15 cubic yards per six units.

The same section's remaining subsections govern how those dumpsters must be maintained once installed: § 34-52(b) requires watertight, rodentproof, flytight-covered construction, § 34-52(c) requires periodic washing and disinfecting to prevent odor, and § 34-52(d) allows the city to remove a noncompliant container as rubbish after five days' written notice to the owner. Section 34-53 separately controls where on the property the dumpster or container may sit, barring placement on public property except for collection. Because commercial garbage from businesses, hotels, office buildings and apartment buildings of six or more units is defined separately in § 34-51, the 15-cubic-yard standard applies to that same class of larger residential and commercial generators.

Violations of the dumpster-capacity requirement are punished under the Code's general penalty, § 1-7, up to $2,500.00 for a first offense and up to $7,500.00 for a second or subsequent offense.