Merced, CA Trash & Recycling: Dumpster Rules (2026)

140 gives the city, its authorized employees, or any person under written contract with the city, the exclusive right to gather and collect solid waste material within Merced, and makes it unlawful for any other person to collect, gather, or remove solid waste, which covers privately-placed commercial dumpsters or roll-off boxes outside the city's own program. The only carve-out is the self-haul exemption in Sec. 025, available to owners who prove the property is undeveloped, already served through another subscriber's container, or who self-haul waste directly to an authorized disposal facility without contracting with a third-party hauler.

For businesses that do use city service, Sec. 280 puts the director of public works in charge of deciding which areas get 300-gallon alley container service, packout, curb line, or commercial and industrial cubic-yard container service. The Article II rate schedule under Sec. 260 sets out commercial bin sizes from 300 gallons up to 8 cubic yards billed by pickup frequency, plus a separate 'Roll Off Container Sizes and Rates' table offering 10, 20, and 30 cubic-yard roll-off boxes. 45 (2023-24) per haul plus a daily container rental fee, an after-hours surcharge for nights, weekends, or holidays, and a per-occurrence overweight charge. Landfill charges for the actual material and weight hauled are billed separately, on top of those service fees.