Plano, TX Trash & Recycling: Pickup Rules & Schedules (2026)
Key Facts
- Placement deadline
- 7:00 a.m. on collection day
- Enforcing agency
- Environmental Waste Services Division
- Blocking access
- unlawful under § 18-10
- Scavenging ban
- only city/contractor may remove set-out items
- Penalty
- fine under § 1-4(a) per offense, per day
Summary
Plano requires solid waste, recyclable, landscape waste, HHW, bulky and special-collection materials to reach the curb or alley by 7:00 a.m. on the scheduled day, later placement can mean the crew skips your address for that cycle. Parking a vehicle or trailer so a collection truck cannot reach a container is a separate violation, and only the city or its authorized contractor may take materials out of a set-out container.
Failure to place solid waste containers, recyclable containers, landscape waste material, HHW materials, bulky waste, and special paid collection waste at its proper collection point, by 7:00 a.m. on the specified collection day may result in the items not being collected.
Official source re-checked September 7, 2026: no newer edition of the code had been published (publisher’s edition: Code of Ordinances: Supplement 153).
Full Breakdown
Section 18-15 of the Code of Ordinances sets one firm citywide deadline: containers, bagged landscape waste, boxed household hazardous waste, bulky-item piles and special paid-collection items must all be at the proper collection point by 7:00 a.m. on the specified collection day, or the Environmental Waste Services Division may pass the address by. That 7 a.m. cutoff applies across every waste stream the city collects, not just the black solid-waste cart. Two related sections back the deadline with enforcement teeth. Section 18-10 makes it unlawful to stop, stand or park a vehicle or trailer on public or private property in a way that blocks a collection truck from reaching a container, and the ordinance presumes the vehicle's registered owner is the one who parked it there.
Section 18-6(l), with the parallel Section 18-8(d) for recyclables, makes it a separate offense for anyone other than the customer, an Environmental Waste Services Division employee, a government official acting within their duties, or an authorized contractor to remove, collect or transfer material that has already been set out, a rule aimed at scavengers pulling cans, cardboard or metal out of bins before the truck arrives. Frequency itself (weekly solid waste and landscape waste, bi-weekly recycling) is set separately in Section 18-5, and the director may shift that schedule around holidays.
Violations & Fines
Missing the 7 a.m. cutoff just means a skipped pickup until the next cycle, but blocking truck access under Section 18-10 and unauthorized removal of set-out materials under Sections 18-6(l)/18-8(d) are prosecutable offenses. Section 18-3 sets the penalty at a fine under Code of Ordinances Section 1-4(a) for each violation, with every day a violation continues counted as a separate offense.
Frequently Asked Questions
What time does my trash need to be out in Plano?
Can I park in front of a trash can on collection day?
Is it illegal for someone to take recyclables out of my bin?
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Sources & Official References
Other rules in Plano
Texas rules heatmap·Compare Plano to another location·View the Texas trash & recycling overview
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Pickup Rules & Schedules in Nearby Cities
How other cities in Collin County handle pickup rules & schedules.