Charlotte, NC Trash & Recycling: Recycling Requirements (2026)

Section 10-32(b)(2) sets the recycling program requirements for large multi-family developments, a distinct regime from the curbside rules that apply to single-family homes under Section 10-32(b)(1). The ordinance requires that all recyclables "be placed in containers authorized by the city and provided by a private contractor," meaning a large complex cannot simply set out its own bins; the containers must be ones the city has approved and a contractor has furnished. The same paragraph requires that any container and any overflow materials "be segregated from all other solid waste at the collection location," so recyclables can't be commingled with the building's regular trash dumpsters at the pickup point, and it makes clear that maintaining or replacing a container "is the responsibility of the property or management company," not the city.

Section 10-32(b)(3) extends a version of this framework to small multi-family developments, but ties their obligation to whichever garbage container type the building already uses: a small multi-family property that receives small waste containers for its trash service under Section 10-31(a) follows the single-family curbside recycling rule in Section 10-32(b)(1), while one that instead receives large waste containers under Section 10-31(c) follows the large multi-family program in Section 10-32(b)(2) instead. Either way, the property, not individual tenants, carries the compliance duty. Because these are program-level obligations on the property rather than individual set-out timing rules, none of the per-incident curbside civil penalties in Sections 10-115 through 10-117 are written to apply directly to a management company's container arrangement.