New Braunfels, TX Trash & Recycling: Pickup Rules & Schedules (2026)

Placement, not just timing, determines whether the solid waste and recycling division will service a cart. Sec. 110-4(1) requires every cart, bag or bundle set out for collection to sit on the addressed side of the structure or at a designated collection point, roughly five feet laterally clear of any obstacle, with the cart's wheels braced against the curb where a curb exists or turned away from the street where it does not. If a normal placement point creates a safety or access problem, such as overhead cables, utility poles, or equipment clearance issues, the solid waste manager can designate an alternative point of collection under Sec.

110-4(2), weighing employee safety, truck maneuverability, customer convenience, and collection cost. Subsection (4) bars putting anything out in an alley, under overhead lines of any kind, or beneath low-hanging branches, and repeats the five-foot clearance rule from any obstacle or structure; only the solid waste manager can grant an exception. Subsection (6) protects the collection point itself: parking or leaving a vehicle, trailer, or boat within five feet of a residential or commercial container, or obstructing it in any other way, is unlawful, since a blocked cart cannot be safely reached by the automated collection arm the city's trucks use.

None of these placement rules change when a cart goes to the curb; Sec. on collection day), but the location and clearance rules in this section apply every week regardless of what time the cart goes out.