York County, VA Trash & Recycling: Dumpster Rules (2026)

Sec. 24.1-261(a) sets the site design standard for refuse and recyclables collection at mobile home parks and at multi-family, commercial, and industrial developments: a dumpster or another zoning-administrator-approved collection method is required. Placement has to keep service trucks clear of bicycle and pedestrian paths, parking spaces, and vehicle circulation drives, and the receptacle can't sit closer than 50 feet to any residential structure or 20 feet to any non-residential structure. Screening is mandatory too: wooden or masonry fencing, backed by landscaping, has to block both on-site and off-site views of the enclosure, and building walls can count toward that screening.

The gate or enclosure design has to keep the dumpster hidden from adjoining public rights-of-way, adjoining properties, and any area on the site normally used by residents, customers, or the public. Where a dumpster is used, the pad underneath has to be built to the Health Department's construction and drainage standards. These site design rules sit in the same division as York County's emergency-access standards, so a dumpster enclosure also can't block the fire apparatus access and turning-radius requirements the Department of Fire and Life Safety applies to the same site. The requirement doesn't reach single-family detached homes, which aren't listed among the covered development types.