Charles County, MD Trash & Recycling: Pickup Rules & Schedules (2026)

Under § 58-1 of the County Code, no one may transport garbage over a Charles County highway or street except to an incinerator, an approved municipal dump inside the county, a destination outside county limits, or a farm that feeds it to hogs. If garbage is fed to hogs, it must sit in concrete or other watertight containers washed at least once every 24 hours, and the feeding site must stay 1,000 feet from any public building or residence, other than the farm owner's or tenant's own home, unless every property owner and tenant within that 1,000 feet gives written consent; feeding sites also cannot sit within 1,000 feet of a public highway.

Leftover feed not eaten by the hogs must be incinerated, plowed under, or spread as fertilizer, though fertilizer-spreading is barred within 1,000 feet of any residence besides the owner's or tenant's for 24 hours after a feeding. Every vehicle hauling garbage to an incinerator, approved dump, or an out-of-county destination must have a covered, watertight, leakproof body with metal containers and tight-fitting covers. The County Health Officer licenses these vehicles, charging each operator $25 a year, and keeps the revenue to fund inspection enforcement; vehicles run by an incorporated town within the county are exempt from this license.

Ordinary trash haulers face a lighter but still mandatory standard: any vehicle or container carrying trash on a county road must have a tight-fitting cover secured in transit, whether it is a garbage truck, a contractor's dump trailer, or a resident's own load headed to the landfill. A violation of Chapter 58 is a misdemeanor, punishable on conviction by a fine of not less than $5 and not more than $50, enforced through the County Health Officer's licensing and inspection authority.