Gary, IN Trash & Recycling: Pickup Rules & Schedules (2026)

Section 34-65(a) makes it unlawful for anyone besides a city refuse collector or a licensed scavenger to disturb a placed refuse container, cruise the city collecting garbage, rubbish, ashes or waste material, or otherwise act as a scavenger without a license. To get one, § 34-65(b) requires a written application to the city controller listing the applicant's name, age, address, employer, the number and description of collection vehicles, driver's license number and two 2-inch by 2-inch photographs taken within 60 days, plus a disclosure of any prior conviction.

The board of health then inspects the vehicles under § 34-65(c): every collection body must be steel, fully enclosed and packer-type so garbage cannot slop into the street, and bodies must be painted and numbered as the board requires. No license issues until the board certifies its approval and the applicant pays the scavenger fee set in chapter 20 to the city controller. Before the license issues, § 34-65(f) requires a certificate of liability and property-damage insurance covering $15,000.00 for injury or death of one person in an accident and $30,000.00 for property damage, written by a company approved by the controller and cancellable only on 15 days' written notice.

Each licensed truck must post its cubic-yard capacity on its sides under § 34-65(i). The mayor can revoke a license for a conviction under the article, a board or street commissioner finding of noncompliance, or a lapse in insurance, though § 34-65(j) gives a licensee 20 days to fix a standards violation after written notice before revocation proceeds.