Burlington, NC Trash & Recycling: Pickup Rules & Schedules (2026)

Code section 33-31 governs curbside service citywide. The sanitation superintendent sets the collection route and day for each address and can change it with public notice; residents cannot refuse or block the weekly pickup. Solid waste has to go in a city-approved automated container, either the standard 100-gallon cart or, where a 100-gallon cart isn't practical, multi-family sites or by request, a 65-gallon cart; a second container is available for an added fee under the solid waste fee schedule. Containers are numbered to the dwelling and stay city property, so damage from misuse triggers a replacement fee while normal wear-and-tear replacement is free.

Placement matters as much as timing: containers go between the curb and the property line closest to the street, no earlier than 24 hours before the pickup day, and no later than 7:00 a.m. on collection day itself. Crews will skip a stop if parked cars, equipment, or low-hanging wires block reasonable access. After collection, every container has to come off the street by 7:00 p.m. and be stored back on the host premises; leaving a can out overnight, on a Saturday, or before dusk on Sunday is flagged as a public health hazard and reported to Alamance County's environmental health division.

Recyclables follow a separate every-other-week schedule set by the city's authorized collector. Businesses that generate more than 200 gallons of waste a week don't use curbside carts at all; they're required to arrange a stationary dumpster serviced by a private hauler instead.