Owensboro, KY Trash & Recycling: Pickup Rules & Schedules (2026)

Owensboro Municipal Code § 26-261 governs how residents must prepare and use their mobile containers. Each cart bears a serial number assigned to a specific street address, remains the property of the sanitation department, and stays at the assigned property regardless of whether a resident sells the home or moves out. New households annexed or built in the city receive one approved mobile container treated as real property that transfers with the home; residents may request additional carts through the sanitation department's rate schedule. All waste must be deposited inside the container with the lid fully closed; material protruding from the container may cause the whole load to be skipped, and loose bags or boxes left beside a cart are not picked up during regular service, instead counting as a special load with additional charges.

For overflow trash beyond what fits in the cart, residents may buy blue overflow bags at City Hall; those bags are collected on the normal service day but must be placed four feet from the mobile container and cannot exceed 30 pounds. Households are responsible for keeping their assigned cart in good working order, and if the sanitation manager determines damage resulted from a resident's negligence, the resident must purchase a replacement cart from the sanitation department. These rules work alongside the collection-schedule provisions of § 26-262 and the curb-placement timing in § 26-263, but govern specifically how waste must be packaged and presented for pickup.