Kane County, IL Trash & Recycling: Dumpster Rules (2026)

Kane County's recycling ordinance, Article IV of Chapter 11, does not set a binding dumpster-capacity ratio for every property, but Sec. 11-111(B)(2) gives owners of two-family, multi-family dwellings and mobile home parks a specific benchmark for their shared refuse corrals. As a starting point, the county recommends at least one 96-gallon wheeled recycling cart co-located with each trash dumpster on the premises. As tenant participation in recycling grows, the recommended standard calls for scaling up the recycling container until it reaches a capacity equal to 40 percent of the trash dumpster serving the same corral, so a property running a large trash compactor should eventually be running a correspondingly sized recycling dumpster next to it.

This sits alongside the hard legal duties in the same article: the property owner or the association governing it must still arrange collection of separated recyclables through a hauler licensed by the county under Sec. 11-113, and Sec. 11-111(C) makes the occupant responsible for the recyclables until the licensed hauler removes them. Because the 96-gallon-cart and 40-percent benchmarks are phrased as a guideline and a recommended standard rather than a mandatory 'shall,' the county's Division of Environmental and Water Resources uses them as a compliance target when it inspects corrals under Sec. 11-110, rather than as a numeric threshold that triggers an automatic fine on its own.