Pottstown, PA Trash & Recycling: Dumpster Rules (2026)

Section 213(2) removes industrial properties, commercial properties, and multifamily or mixed-use properties with seven or more units from the residential can-and-bag system entirely; those properties must instead use a dumpster. The hauler has to provide a dumpster or dumpsters large enough for the property's actual waste volume, and the Borough Manager or a designee must approve the size. Section 213(2)(B) folds in the Borough's zoning code directly, requiring the approved dumpster to comply with Section 507, Subsection 5 of Chapter 27, Zoning, which the solid waste ordinance adopts and incorporates by reference; the dumpster must also be kept clean inside and out so it never creates a nuisance such as offensive odor, and the owner must produce written proof of an authorized hauler on the Borough's request.

Properties on contiguous, commonly owned parcels totaling seven or more units can opt out of the municipal system as a group under Section 213(3), but only after submitting an application, with a fee set by Borough Council resolution, for a shared dumpster that the Borough regulates through a zoning permit rather than a solid waste permit. That shared dumpster must meet the same Chapter 27, Section 507(5) sizing and enclosure standard, and Section 213(3)(G) specifically exempts a dumpster pad and related improvements from being treated as land development so long as the disturbed area stays under 250 square feet. Owners at every scale must give tenants written notice of these requirements when a lease begins.