Polk County, FL Trash & Recycling: Recycling Requirements (2026)

Section 11-36 makes residential recycling opt-in: an owner or occupant "may obtain" residential recyclable materials collection service by contracting directly with a residential recyclable materials collection franchise holder, and each household is individually responsible for paying that hauler for the service, separate from the county's mandatory residential waste program services assessment covering garbage, rubbish, horticultural trash, and bulk waste. Residents who sign up must place separated recyclable materials, defined in Section 11-3 as materials capable of being recycled that would otherwise become solid waste, in a container designated for recyclables and set it out for their chosen hauler.

On the supply side, Section 11-37 bars anyone from collecting, removing, or transporting residential recyclable materials in Polk County without a nonexclusive residential recyclable materials collection franchise from the county. Each franchise runs no longer than one calendar year, from January 1 through December 31 (any franchise issued between September 1 and December 31, 2024 instead ran through December 31, 2025), cannot be assigned or transferred, and is treated as a revocable privilege rather than a property right. Applicants pay the same application fees commercial haulers pay under Section 11-41(c)(5): a $750 initial application fee and a $500 renewal or modification fee.

Franchise holders also pay the same $200 per-truck annual inspection fee that commercial haulers pay under Section 11-42(c)(5). The county reviews, suspends, and revokes residential recycling franchises through the identical process it uses for commercial collection franchises under Sections 11-41 through 11-43.