Plano, TX Trash & Recycling: Dumpster Rules (2026)

Plano regulates commercial dumpster and compactor placement through Sec. 400, Requirements for Solid Waste Collection, in the Zoning Ordinance's Article 20 (Screening, Fence and Wall Regulations). The section applies to property used for nonresidential or multifamily purposes and requires that solid waste collection locations comply with both the city's Site Design Standards for Solid Waste Containers and the ordinance text itself. It exempts community recycling locations permitted by the city, onsite construction-debris containers under a valid Building Inspections Department permit, certain multifamily and nonresidential developments authorized by the Public Works Department to use 95-gallon residential-type carts in the BG, UMU, NBD, RCD, or CB-1 districts (or in a planned development district that permits carts by stipulation), donation containers regulated under Sec.

4, declared disasters, and containers under a Special Event permit. Where the section applies, a development must provide space for a minimum of two containers per lot to accommodate both refuse and recycling, with additional spaces required for nonresidential uses per the Site Design Standards. One or more required container locations may be sited offsite in a permanent easement, but only within 150 feet of the building, as determined sufficient through site plan approval. Screening and placement must be consistent with the Site Design Standards, enclosures may be used only for solid-waste-program purposes authorized under the city's Code of Ordinances, and all screening devices, including living screens, must be continually maintained in good repair and in compliance with Sec.

400, Landscape Compliance. Regional Commercial (RC) and Regional Employment (RE) district developments face an added citing rule under Sec. 6 and Sec. 1200: trash collection facilities including dumpsters and compactors must sit at least 100 feet from rights-of-way of Type C and above thoroughfares that border those districts, with the Planning & Zoning Commission empowered to require wing walls or other visual screening, plus a 50-foot landscape edge with berms and trees where the facility isn't already blocked from street view by a building.