New Berlin, WI Trash & Recycling: Dumpster Rules (2026)

Section 275-56 G(2) of the New Berlin Code of Ordinances requires that all dumpsters be screened from view from any public right-of-way. The side used for refuse removal must remain accessible but is required to carry a solid gate at least five feet high, kept in good working order and closed at all times except when the pickup truck is actually servicing the container. Any other side of the dumpster that faces or is visible from a public right-of-way needs a solid wall at least six feet tall, and that wall has to be architecturally compatible with the rest of the buildings and structures on the site, not just a bare block or chain-link enclosure.

The Plan Commission can approve alternative screening methods under Subsection (2)(b)[3] if the standard gate-and-wall approach does not fit a site. This screening duty sits inside the same landscaping and buffering article that requires mechanical equipment, ground-mounted utilities and loading, trash and utility areas generally to be hidden from street and side-path views under Section 275-59 D(5). Everyday municipal trash and recycling carts used for weekly residential pickup are carved out of the separate accessory-structure refuse container rule in Section 275-42 P, which instead defers commercial and multifamily dumpsters to Chapter 220 of the Municipal Code and to this landscaping chapter's screening standard.

A property that installs a dumpster enclosure without meeting the gate height, wall height or architectural-compatibility requirements is out of compliance with its approved site or landscape plan and can be cited the same as any other zoning violation.