Grand Forks, ND Trash & Recycling: Recycling Requirements (2026)

Grand Forks does not leave recycling participation open-ended: § 13-0413(A) authorizes the solid waste superintendent, with city council consent, to adopt rules and regulations for a recycling and composting program citywide, and § 13-0413(B) lets the superintendent place and designate specific recycling and compost receptacles or dumpsters, restricting each one to only the material designated for it. Section 13-0414 turns that designation into an enforceable requirement: no person may place, deposit, or dump anything in a city recycling or compost receptacle or dumpster other than what is marked as allowable on the container or on a sign posted near it, and a violation carries a fixed one hundred dollar penalty for each offense.

Section 13-0415 protects the materials once deposited, making it unlawful for an unauthorized person to remove, collect, or otherwise disturb recyclable materials left at a receptacle, and separately barring anyone from removing or damaging a dumpster or container used to collect garbage or recyclables; ownership of deposited recyclables stays with the generator until the city actually collects them. Private companies that want to collect recyclable materials commercially need their own separate permit under § 13-0407, so the city-run receptacle system and the private-collector permit system operate side by side under Article 4.