Sumter County, FL Trash & Recycling: Pickup Rules & Schedules (2026)

Section 21-1(a) of the solid waste chapter sets the county's baseline disposal rule for every person, entity, homeowner, tenant or resident in Sumter County: household garbage and litter must be taken to a permitted landfill or arrangements made for collection by a solid waste collector for ultimate deposit at a permitted landfill or disposal facility. Chapter 21's definitions section, Section 21-16, defines a collector as any person or entity engaged in the commercial collection or transportation of solid waste, a term the code treats as synonymous with solid waste hauler, and defines garbage broadly to include food waste, yard trimmings, paper, boxes and any container that could hold standing water and breed mosquitoes.

Because the rule requires either a landfill trip or an arranged collector, a resident who wants curbside pickup must contract with one of the collectors operating in the county rather than relying on the county itself to run a municipal collection route. The rule was adopted by Ordinance No. 91-9, §§ 1 through 4 on November 5, 1991, and amended by Ordinance No. 2014-06, § 3 in 2014 and Ordinance No. 2015-04, § 3A in 2015. Section 21-17 separately bars any hazardous waste from being placed with a collector or at the county's solid waste facility, and directs a collector to refuse pickup and notify the Board of County Commissioners if it suspects hazardous material in a customer's waste.