Hillsboro, OR Trash & Recycling: Dumpster Rules (2026)
Key Facts
- Franchise requirement
- No hauling/drop box service without a City franchise
- Access rule
- Containers must sit outside locked gates for pickup
- Screening allowed
- Site-obscuring screening for commercial dumpsters permitted
- Appeal window
- 10 days to appeal a citation to the City Manager
- Franchisee civil penalties
- $500 / $750 / $1,000 per repeat violation
- Governing chapter
- HMC Chapter 6.08, adopted by Ordinance 6162 (2016)
Summary
In Hillsboro, only the City's franchised hauler may provide solid waste collection or drop box (roll-off) service, and businesses must give that hauler safe, unobstructed access to the pickup point. The Municipal Code specifically protects the use of site-obscuring screening around commercial and industrial dumpsters.
No person may:D.Provide solid waste management and collection services or drop box services within the corporate limits of the City, or advertise for the performance of those services, without obtaining a franchise from the City.K.Fail to provide safe access to the pickup point so as not to jeopardize the persons or equipment supplying solid waste management and collection or drop box service or the motoring public. Unless exempt under the standards adopted pursuant to HMC 6.08.050(D), to protect the privacy, safety, pets and security of the customers, and to prevent unnecessary physical and legal risk to the franchisee and its employees, a customer shall place a roll cart or other container to be emptied on the appointed collection day outside any locked or latched gate and outside any garage or other building, and where applicable shall place such roll carts and containers at the curb or roadside as directed by the franchisee in such a fashion to allow for proper mechanical collection. Nothing contained herein shall prevent or discourage the use of site obscuring waste receptacle screening for commercial or industrial containers or drop boxes.
Official source re-checked September 7, 2026: no newer edition of the code had been published (publisher’s edition: Municipal Code: Supplement 1 | Community Development Code: Supplement 1).
Full Breakdown
020, "General Offenses," opens with "No person may" and then lists prohibited acts for solid waste and recycling in the city. Subsection D makes it unlawful to "provide solid waste management and collection services or drop box services within the corporate limits of the City, or advertise for the performance of those services, without obtaining a franchise from the City," meaning a business cannot bring in its own dumpster or roll-off hauler outside the City's franchise system. 050(D). That same subsection expressly preserves screening: "Nothing contained herein shall prevent or discourage the use of site obscuring waste receptacle screening for commercial or industrial containers or drop boxes," so businesses may enclose or fence a dumpster area as long as the hauler can still reach it.
025 pull source-separated recyclables sold for fair value, charitable salvage collection (Salvation Army, St. Vincent de Paul, Goodwill and similar groups), waste generated and hauled outside the City, and a few other categories out from under the franchise requirement. 050 requires each hauler to comply with state solid waste, safety and workers' compensation law and to serve any customer in its territory on request.
Violations & Fines
General violations of the solid waste subchapter run through HMC § 6.08.060: the City can enforce by administrative process, by citation, or by any other method the law provides, and a citation can be issued to a corporation, company, partnership, or an employee of one. A cited person has 10 days from the date of the citation, notice of violation, or civil penalty to file a written appeal with the City Recorder for a hearing before the City Manager. Separately, a franchisee itself faces a graduated civil penalty schedule under § 6.08.055 for franchise violations: up to $500 for a first violation, up to $750 for a second, and up to $1,000 per violation for a third and any subsequent violation within a 12-month period, assessable per day or per occurrence, plus 1.5% monthly interest on unpaid amounts and possible franchise revocation for repeat or serious violations.
Frequently Asked Questions
Can a Hillsboro business rent its own dumpster from an out-of-town hauler?
Is a business allowed to fence or screen its dumpster enclosure?
What happens if a hauler or business is cited for a solid waste violation?
Does the franchise requirement cover charities collecting donated goods?
Sources & Official References
Other rules in Hillsboro
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