Portsmouth, VA Trash & Recycling: Dumpster Rules (2026)

City Code Sec. 16-10(a) requires refuse containers such as dumpsters for mobile home parks and multifamily, commercial and industrial developments, with number, size, design and location approved by the director of general services or a designee. Subsection (b) sets the core siting standard: containers must be located so service vehicles have convenient access while minimizing encroachment on parking, circulation drives, sidewalks and rights-of-way, and dumpsters and their enclosures cannot sit closer than 50 feet to any residential structure or closer than 5 feet to the property line.

Subsection (c) pushes commercial high-volume generators with sufficient outdoor area toward indoor refuse storage, potentially with compaction devices. Subsection (d) requires the container to sit on a paved area or concrete pad meeting health department standards and to be hidden from general view by fencing, masonry walls, landscaping or another method the director accepts. Subsection (e) requires containers to be sized adequately for the site's needs, lets the director demand a capacity calculation using waste-industry standards, and requires materials attractive to rodents or insects to be stored only in completely closed containers.

Subsections (f) and (g) separately address centralized and individual containers in residential developments: centralized containers must be enclosed on three sides by a solid wood or masonry wall with an opaque gate on the fourth side, while individual containers require the site plan to provide storage space and outdoor access in a side or rear yard.