St. Joseph County, IN Trash & Recycling: Dumpster Rules (2026)

070(C)(3) lays out additional accessory-use standards for business, commercial, and industrial districts, and subsection (b) covers trash containers: any container over 36 cubic feet, the size range that covers a typical rear-load dumpster or roll-off box, needs screening on at least three sides by a building wall or a solid enclosure between six and ten feet tall, closed with an opaque gate. The container cannot be staged between the front facade of the building and the front lot line, and it cannot sit in any minimum front, side, or rear yard, so businesses generally locate dumpster pads behind the building or along a side yard that is not a required setback.

Because the standard sits in the same accessory-use section as the fencing rules for commercial and industrial districts, a business installing a dumpster enclosure often builds the screening wall to the same height range used for perimeter fencing there, up to eight feet in a required side or rear yard. The rule applies to permanent enclosures and, by its plain terms, reaches temporary roll-off containers over the 36 cubic foot threshold as well, since the section does not distinguish by duration, only by size. 070(A) and (B).