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

Section 9-8(b) sets the baseline for how households and small businesses put out garbage: every residential customer or small business serviced by the city must have an approved refuse container issued by the city, built for storage and collection and fitted with the lift bars and lid a semi-automated or automated collection truck needs. The rule is strict about substitutes, no other container for refuse will be collected, so a resident who sets out garbage in an unapproved can or bag left loose beside it risks having it skipped.

The city supplies one container per residential site as part of basic service; additional containers are available case by case with an added charge and disposal cost under the adopted fee schedule. Placement is time-boxed under § 9-8(e): containers must sit at the curb for collection, and outside of collection days they belong on the side or rear of the dwelling, in a carport or garage, or screened from street view by shrubbery if kept in front. On collection day itself, customers must not set the container out earlier than 6:00 PM the evening before their scheduled pickup, and must pull it back from the curb no later than 6:00 AM the morning after collection.

Containers also can't block the paved street, creating a traffic hazard, or sit on the sidewalk where they'd block children or pedestrians, and lids must stay closed to keep animals out.