Acworth, GA Trash & Recycling: Recycling Requirements (2026)

Chapter 78's curbside program, covering garbage, yard waste and large items, has no parallel recycling route: recycling is instead handled through a single designated recycling facility governed by Section 54-92(b), adopted by Ordinance No. 2024-11 on September 19, 2024. That subsection makes it unlawful to intentionally dump prohibited items in or around the facility and specifies that allowable items are limited to paper, cardboard, junk mail, magazines and books, plastics numbered 1 through 7, aluminum, steel and tin cans, all of which must be placed inside the provided receptacles; anything else is prohibited from being left in or around the facility.

Section 78-14, in the solid waste chapter, backs this up by making it unlawful for anyone other than the owner of recovered materials or an authorized collector to remove recyclables that have already been separated and placed at a designated collection location, a provision aimed at scavengers who pick through drop-off bins for resale value. Chapter 78's own definitions in Section 78-1 fold recycling into 'solid or sanitation waste' alongside garbage, yard waste and large items, so city sanitation staff retain oversight of the facility even though it sits outside the weekly curbside pickup schedule set under Section 78-6. Because Section 54-92 sets no fine of its own, violations default to the Code's general penalty, Section 1-11.