Broomfield, CO Trash & Recycling: Pickup Rules & Schedules (2026)

Section 8-04-120, dating to the city's original 1962 sanitation code (Ord. 18, Art. 1, § 12) and amended by Ord. 85 in 1968, sets Broomfield's rule for where a trash or garbage receptacle can sit between pickups. The general rule bars storing any such receptacle within the right-of-way of a street or alley, or on a sidewalk or curb, at any time. The one exception lets a receptacle sit in a street or alley right-of-way for up to twenty-four hours, but only for the purpose of pickup, meaning a resident can roll a can to the curb the night before or morning of collection and must bring it back afterward.

This placement rule works together with § 8-04-025(B), which requires containers to be placed in the street in front of the residence or in the adjacent alley on the schedule the city and its contracted hauler set; § 8-04-120 supplies the outer time limit on how long that placement can last. Code compliance staff within Community Development, along with Public Works, field complaints about containers left at the curb for extended periods, a common source of neighbor disputes in residential areas near Interlocken and the Broomfield Commons. There is no separate permit for temporary placement beyond the 24-hour window; leaving a can out longer simply violates the section outright.