Chattanooga, TN Trash & Recycling: Pickup Rules & Schedules (2026)

Section 18-46, in Article III of Chapter 18, sets the eligibility and container rules for municipal residential collection. Subsection (a) defines residential refuse as waste from the normal occupation and use of a residential property, expressly excluding waste generated by contractors doing construction, remodeling, or repair work, and excluding debris from tree trimmers or other hired persons who cut material larger than 18 inches in diameter or trim more than one tree on the same or an adjacent property within thirty days. Subsection (b), the operative eligibility rule, restricts residential collection to non-hazardous garbage, refuse, and ashes generated on-site; it is unlawful to place hazardous waste in residential collection or to set out waste that was not generated on the premises being served.

Subsection (c) requires waste to go out in special containers on mechanized routes, not packed so tightly that mechanical equipment cannot empty them, and in authorized residential containers weighing under fifty pounds on non-mechanized routes. Subsection (d) sends bulky trash and yard trash to the separate rules in Section 18-86, and subsection (e) bars co-mingling regular residential waste with bulky trash or yard trash, except small quantities under thirty gallons or fifty pounds may go out together in an authorized container. Subsection (f) makes it unlawful to dispose of, set out, or maintain garbage or refuse on streets, sidewalks, or private property except as the Article authorizes, and separately makes owners or residents who knowingly allow a violation on their property, and contractors who dump waste on any property, guilty of a violation in their own right.

The rule reaches the whole household chain of custody for trash, from what may go in the cart to who is on the hook when it does not.