National City, CA Trash & Recycling: Dumpster Rules (2026)

Section 7.10.080 of the National City Municipal Code requires masonry trash enclosures for all commercial, industrial, institutional and multi-family residential uses, built to the trash enclosure design guidelines adopted from time to time by resolution of the city council. The owner of the affected property has the duty to provide and install the enclosure. The planning commission can waive the requirement on a finding that the use does not generate a need for exterior trash receptacles, and properties whose receptacles have a cumulative capacity of ninety gallons or less are exempt if the planning department finds the containers suitable and sufficient. Multifamily properties with no more than three units are also exempt when the planning department determines that the site cannot fit an enclosure, all receptacles can be screened from adjacent properties and city streets, and dumpsters are not in use, with receptacles limited to metal or plastic cans. Subsection C requires any building or structure used for storing rubbish and waste to contain an approved floor drain connected to the public sewer system, and subsection D requires enclosures to be constructed with a roof.

Placement is covered by Section 7.10.110.A. Enclosures and receptacles cannot be placed on private property within a required yard area, within ten feet of any window of any dwelling unit, or within five feet of any combustible wall. Section 7.10.100.F carves out a narrow exception when the planning director finds, on site plan review, that a required yard is the only reasonable location, the enclosure will be more than ten feet from any dwelling unit window and five feet from a combustible wall, and access about the building stays open. When there is no on-site room, the planning director can allow joint use of receptacles and an enclosure within one hundred feet of the use served under a recorded legal instrument approved by the city attorney, allow use of required parking spaces, or send an enclosure in an adjoining parkway or alley to the city council for an encroachment permit.

Operation rules follow. Section 7.10.090 requires enclosures to be kept clean and sanitary, graffiti promptly removed, gates operable and closed when not in use, and overfilled containers removed immediately. Under Section 7.10.050.D, commercial dump-type bins must meet the minimum specifications of the city's rubbish collection contractor and carry solid, noncombustible, closeable lids sufficient to contain a fire, and no liquid waste can go in a bin unless it is in leak proof vessels. Section 7.10.060.A bars mixed garbage and refuse in a dump-type bin without a fully operable, flyproof, self-closing lid.