Bowling Green, KY Trash & Recycling: Pickup Rules & Schedules (2026)

Two provisions of the Bowling Green Code of Ordinances govern where and when trash and recycling containers may sit outside a residence. Sec. 20-1.04.c, part of the Solid Waste Collection chapter, makes it unlawful to place residential solid waste containers in the paved portion of any street, right-of-way or upon any sidewalk, and separately unlawful to block access to solid waste containers, so a container cannot obstruct the road, a walkway or another container. Sec. 27-5.05.j of the Property Code goes further, declaring it a nuisance condition for trash and recycling containers in residential areas to sit more than five feet past the front corner of the residence except on the resident's assigned trash or recycling pickup date; refuse and trash accumulating outside a covered, tight-fitting container, or piling up where no removal service is provided, is likewise a declared nuisance under the same Section.

Enforcement of the nuisance rule runs through the Code Enforcement and Nuisance Board process at Sec. 27-6.01, and Sec. 27-7.01's Property Code Fine Schedule classifies a container-placement violation as a non-structural Property Maintenance and Nuisance violation: a first offense carries a one-hundred-dollar civil fine if uncontested (two hundred dollars if a hearing is held), rising to two hundred dollars for a second offense and four hundred dollars for further offenses, doubling if the citation is contested and heard by the Board. A third citation on the same case can trigger a per-day fine of up to one hundred dollars for as long as sixty days.