Alpharetta, GA Trash & Recycling: Pickup Rules & Schedules (2026)

Section 38-10(a) of the Alpharetta Code of Ordinances requires the city to provide each residential unit a 95-gallon plastic rollaway cart for garbage, and the owner or lessee must keep that cart clean, neat and sanitary at all times; if the cart is lost, destroyed or damaged, the owner or lessee has to reimburse the city for the replacement cost. Section 38-10(b) extends the same duty to anyone in possession of a place producing garbage: keep approved garbage cans on hand, sized to hold everything that accumulates between pickups, and mark garbage from a multi-unit building so it is clear which apartment or flat it belongs to.

Commercial and industrial customers instead place garbage in approved cans or, where needed, use front-end container, roll-off, or compactor service. Before any of that matters, section 38-9(a) requires occupants to actually notify the city or its contractor that collection is needed at their address, and non-residential occupants must specify how often they need service. If the city switches to an independent contractor, section 38-9(b) puts the notice burden on that contractor: it has to tell residents about the change and give them the information they need to reach the contractor with their own collection needs.

Section 38-12 rounds out the can rules: crushed glass from a compactor can go in with regular garbage, but other broken glass must sit in its own visible container, and liquid, kitchen waste without draining, or unwrapped human or animal waste cannot go in the cart at all.