Shenandoah, TX Trash & Recycling: Dumpster Rules (2026)

Chapter 14, Article V of the Shenandoah, Texas code of ordinances (Montgomery County) separately regulates dumpsters and portable storage units. Sec. 14-101 defines a dumpster as a trash receptacle designed to hold garbage, trash or building waste and designed to be hoisted and emptied into or by a truck, and specifies that large plastic or cloth units used to hold commercial trash or waste are also dumpsters for purposes of the article. Sec. 14-102 permits a dumpster on any property covered by an active building permit without a separate dumpster permit; every other property needs a city-issued permit before a dumpster can be placed.

Sec. 14-104(a) sets the operating limits: once a homeowner or contractor obtains a permit, the dumpster cannot stay on the property for more than 30 days, and the city will not issue more than two dumpster permits to the same property in any rolling 12-month period. The same article separately regulates portable storage units, often called PODS, under Sec. 14-103 and Sec. 14-104(b): a temporary or portable storage unit likewise needs a city permit, and it may not remain on the property for more than 30 days in any six-month period, though Sec.

14-104(c) allows a storage unit permit to be issued twice in a six-month period if the property changes ownership during that window. Both sets of rules were adopted together by Ord. No. O-15-025 on June 24, 2015, and apply everywhere inside the Shenandoah city limits rather than to unincorporated Montgomery County or the neighboring Woodlands Township.