Chesapeake, VA Trash & Recycling: Recycling Requirements (2026)

Sec. 62-59 lists the categories of waste the city's collection crews will not pick up, and subsection (f) covers recyclables directly: material set out at the curb separately from garbage, trash or refuse, specifically for recycling, is not collected by the city under its solid waste program. If a resident instead puts a can, bottle or piece of cardboard inside the automated garbage container or a permitted trash receptacle, the crew collects it along with everything else as ordinary garbage, and it is not diverted or recycled.

The chapter's broader solid waste framework backs this up: Sec. 62-66(a) defines 'solid waste' delivered to the regional SPSA system as garbage, refuse and trash, expressly excluding any and all recyclable materials, meaning the city's mandatory landfill-delivery requirement for solid waste does not extend to recyclables. Because the code does not establish a municipal curbside recycling collection service, residents who want their material recycled rather than landfilled have to arrange drop-off or private hauling on their own; setting bins out for the city truck accomplishes nothing beyond ordinary trash pickup.

Commercial and multi-family properties face a parallel structure under Sec. 62-65: unless they qualify for city collection under Sec. 62-61, they must store solid waste privately and deliver it to an SPSA transfer station or final disposal facility, again with no city-run recycling leg built into that arrangement.