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

Richmond City Code § 23-3 puts the servicing burden for commercial bulk containers entirely on the business, not the Department of Public Works. Any commercial establishment that uses a dumpster or roll-off container for its refuse must employ a private contractor to service that container; City refuse crews handling residential supercans do not empty business dumpsters. The container itself must be covered at all times and kept clean, neat, and in a good state of repair. If material spills out of the container when it is emptied, cleaning it up is the job of either the private contractor or the property owner or occupant of the establishment, not the City.

The section also bars businesses from stacking overflow refuse next to a bulk container rather than inside it. Where a property's site plan imposes a screening requirement around the container, the property owner must keep that screening clean, neat, and in good repair as well; a broken or missing enclosure does not excuse the underlying screening obligation. Anyone who hauls the refuse away for hire, including the contractor a business retains under § 23-3, must also hold a City hauling license under § 23-2 and keep the hauling vehicle fully enclosed or covered.

Violations of § 23-3 fall under the abatement mechanism that governs the whole solid waste chapter: the Chief Administrative Officer can order written notice to correct the problem, and unresolved violations can be abated by the City with the cost billed to the owner.