Union County, NC Trash & Recycling: Dumpster Rules (2026)

Article 55's equipment screening rules are meant to shield site features like dumpsters and mechanical equipment from the view of streets and neighboring lots. 080, is broad: it applies to all dumpsters, not just those serving new commercial development, and requires them to be screened from view of public rights-of-way and adjacent properties. That screening obligation drops away only where the adjacent property is zoned LI (Light Industrial) or HI (Heavy Industrial), reflecting that those districts already tolerate more visible service equipment. Two categories are exempt outright: pedestrian-use garbage and recycling receptacles, such as the cans placed along a commercial sidewalk, and household-size containers that serve an individual dwelling unit, so a homeowner's curbside trash and recycling bins are not swept into this rule.

090-D, the county's screening-type table that specifies material and opacity requirements. A property owner installing a new dumpster pad, whether at a shopping center, restaurant, or multi-unit development, needs to plan the screen wall, fence, or vegetation buffer as part of the site plan the county reviews, since the standard applies at the time of the improvement rather than only at initial construction.