New Brunswick, NJ Trash & Recycling: Dumpster Rules (2026)

Section 8.40.050 of the New Brunswick Municipal Code applies to any dumpster with a capacity of ten cubic yards or more on property in any zoning district other than I-1, I-2 and I-2e. Whoever seeks to place or use one applies to the city engineer. The application lists the applicant, the property owner, the dumpster owner, the person responsible for operation and maintenance, a proposed location with a sketch showing compliance with the distance rules, the proposed duration and the dumpster's capacity.

The fee is $25, and if the application is approved that fee also covers the first thirty days. The city engineer notifies the applicant within one working day if the application is complete and approves or denies completed applications within three working days. The permit is attached to the dumpster it was issued for. Permits are valid for thirty days and renewable only by a new application and a new application and dumpster fee. Permits and renewals are not granted for more than one hundred eighty days including the initial permit and all renewals.

Placement rules are numeric. Dumpsters cannot interfere with pedestrian or vehicular traffic on any improved street, highway, road or sidewalk. They sit at least ten feet from the property line, at least ten feet from all improved streets, highways, roads and sidewalks, and at least twenty-five feet from any road intersection. A dumpster must be emptied within seventy-two hours of being filled to seventy-five percent capacity or more.

Other sections layer on top. Under § 8.40.040(C)(4), dumpsters, roll-offs and drop boxes at nonresidential, commercial and industrial sites need approval or direction from the Department of Public Works, cannot sit on any city sidewalk or public thoroughfare except during actual collection, must be marked with the owner's name, address and business phone number and sit on an asphalt or concrete pad. Section 8.40.040(C)(5) requires an enclosure that fully screens the container or a living fence at least eight feet high along the property line. Section 8.40.170 requires every outdoor dumpster to be covered at all times.