Mount Prospect, IL Trash & Recycling: Dumpster Rules (2026)

Section 14.306 D1 of the Village Code is the zoning rule for garbage dumpsters and recycling containers in the Village of Mount Prospect. It sits in the accessory structures section, under the heading for regulations on specific accessory structures and uses.

The requirement starts with the building. All multi-family buildings that use centralized solid waste services must provide a garbage dumpster and recycling container area. The area has to meet the minimum standards established by the solid waste coordinator, so the coordinator's standards, not a fixed number in the zoning chapter, set the size and layout of the enclosure.

Location is tied to parking. Outdoor designated garbage dumpsters and recycling containers keep the same setbacks as parking lots. Where a dumpster or container sits inside a covered parking area, the design has to avoid any conflict with required parking spaces or access drives, so a dumpster cannot take over a stall the parking requirement counts.

Screening depends on the district. In nonresidential districts, dumpsters and containers are screened on all sides by a solid wood fence or equivalent screening material to a height of not less than six feet. In residential districts, multiple-family developments screen on no less than three sides with a solid wood fence or equivalent material, again to a height of not less than six feet.

This subsection is the only place in the code text staged for this review where the word dumpster appears. It speaks to multi-family dumpsters and recycling containers and does not set placement rules for temporary roll-off boxes. A separate subsection of section 14.306 exempts parking lots and drive aisles from these accessory structure restrictions and sends them to articles XXII and XXIII of the zoning chapter.