Chelan County, WA Trash & Recycling: Pickup Rules & Schedules (2026)

Chapter 4.04 of the Chelan County Code, adopted in 1943 and amended in 1990, governs how garbage moves through the unincorporated county, and it works by prohibition rather than by setting a pickup schedule. Section 4.04.010 defines garbage broadly to include household waste, ashes, rags, broken furniture, small dead animals, and spoiled food scraps, but carves out earth, building materials, manure, sewage, large dead animals and slaughterhouse waste, which fall under separate solid-waste and health-district rules. Section 4.04.020 then makes it unlawful for any person, firm or corporation to deposit, throw or place garbage in a lane, alley, street, canyon or other public place, or on private property regardless of who owns it, unless the spot is one the Chelan County Board of Commissioners, or an incorporated city or town in the county, has designated for garbage and refuse disposal.

Because the county itself doesn't run curbside collection, residents in the unincorporated area rely on licensed haulers or county transfer stations and drop-off sites, such as the scale-house facilities and the Leavenworth Quarantine Area brush site, to move waste to an approved location legally. Chelan County has also adopted a Comprehensive Solid Waste and Hazardous Waste Management Plan (2023-2028) under Chapter 4.06, coordinating disposal across the unincorporated area and the cities. Short-term rental operators face an added, specific rule: § 11.88.290(3)(D) requires trash containers to be provided and kept in proper containers on collection day, in compliance with this same Chapter 4.04.

A § 4.04.020 violation is a misdemeanor under § 4.04.030, carrying a fine of up to one thousand dollars, up to ninety days in jail, or both.