Jacksonville Beach, FL Trash & Recycling: Dumpster Rules (2026)

Section 34-716(d)(4) of the Land Development Code governs where dumpsters sit and how they look. All solid waste containers, including compactors and dumpsters, must be located and designed so as not to be visible from the view of adjacent streets and properties. If screening is required to eliminate that visibility, the type of screening is determined by the proposed location of the container, existing site conditions, and the type and amount of existing vegetation on the site. The section closes by requiring all solid waste containers to meet the standards set forth by the public works department.

Chapter 27 defines the equipment. A multifamily and commercial container is any portable, nonabsorbent, enclosed container with a close-fitting cover or doors, approved by the Duval County Health Department and the city, used to store large volumes of refuse. The definition names dumpsters, compactors and permanent-use open-top roll-offs, allows the city to qualify other container types at its discretion, and requires that the container be capable of being serviced by mechanical equipment. An industrial waste collection container is a metal commercial container designed for mechanical pick-up by front end loading compaction trucks currently in use by the franchisee.

Section 27-20 requires all owners of residences, apartments or places of business in the city to provide a solid waste container or containers of sufficient capacity to hold four days' accumulation of solid waste, meeting the minimum standards in the section 27-1 definitions. Section 27-21(b) requires multifamily and commercial refuse to be stored and collected in these containers only, and any food waste or other putrescible material placed in them must be enclosed in waterproof bags which are securely closed. Industrial waste is collected by the city only when it comes from manufacturing or fabrication plants and lumberyards and is stored in multifamily and commercial containers.

Under Sec. 27-21(g), a container that fails to qualify is tagged by the city or its solid waste franchisee with the reason it fails, and if the party furnishing it does not remove it from service within seven days after written notice, the city or franchisee removes it from service. Section 27-21(h) makes it unlawful to remove any item from a container after it has been deposited for collection, with exceptions for the city, the franchisee, the depositing owner, the container's owner or user, and police.