Southborough, MA Trash & Recycling: Pickup Rules & Schedules (2026)

Section 130-4(E) of the Southborough noise bylaw sets the town's collection-hour limit: no trash collection or dumpster collection shall take place in any area designated as, or directly abutting a residential zone between the hours of 9:00 p.m. and 7:00 a.m. The rule applies to both ordinary trash pickup and dumpster collection, and it reaches not only residential zones but commercial or industrial land that directly abuts one. Collection is allowed from 7:00 a.m. until 9:00 p.m. in those areas.

As with every item in § 130-4, the prohibition is framed around activities that generate an unreasonable disturbance. The hours are the same 9:00 p.m. to 7:00 a.m. window that § 130-4(D) applies to noise audible beyond the property line from truck loading and unloading, so a hauler's overnight route near homes falls under both provisions.

The bylaw adds contracted work context. Section 130-2 defines CONTRACTED WORK to include businesses retained to do work that generates noise, and § 130-3(C) sets the hours for that work as 7:00 a.m. to 7:00 p.m. on weekdays and 8:00 a.m. to 6:00 p.m. Saturdays, with none on Sundays or Holidays. Whether the § 130-4(E) hours or those hours control a given hauler depends on how the work is classified, so the printed 9:00 p.m. to 7:00 a.m. ban is the firm outer limit.

Emergency activities such as storm cleanup, power outages and snow removal are exempt under § 130-5(B). The Select Board can grant a temporary exception of no more than three days under § 130-7(D). The Police Department enforces under § 130-7(A). Residents who bring waste to the Town's transfer station are governed separately by Chapter 36, Article III, which requires valid transfer station stickers.