Santee, CA Trash & Recycling: Dumpster Rules (2026)

Section 13.30.020(J) requires all office, commercial and industrial developments to provide enough trash enclosures on-site to meet Chapter 9.06's stormwater standards and Section 9.02.230, subject to the Director's design approval. The enclosure itself needs a minimum six-foot-high solid decorative masonry wall, a solid roof, and a solid metal gate painted to match the on-site buildings, built to keep rainfall out and stop wind from scattering trash or recycling off-site. Subsection (J)(2) requires every trash dumpster to carry its own attached, waterproof cover, kept closed at all times, not just a shared enclosure roof.

Gaps between the enclosure's walls and roof must be screened with five-millimeter gauge mesh. The enclosure has to be sized to hold every required container, trash, recyclables and organic waste, and stay easily accessible. Placement is restricted too: enclosures can't sit within any required street yard or landscape area, and they need at least a 5-foot setback from side and rear property lines when adjacent to nonresidential zones, or 10 feet when adjacent to a residential zone, and they can't block a required parking space or driveway.

Anti-graffiti surfaces are required on the enclosure under Section 7.16.120, and every development must also meet the stormwater requirements cross-referenced in Sections 9.06.250(C)(1) and 9.06.220(B)(2). Residential projects follow a parallel but separate rule in Section 13.10.040(I), which sets its own two-enclosure minimum and 10-foot setback for multifamily trash areas.