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

Section 6-3-4(A) puts the obligation to provide containers on property owners, landlords and tenants alike: every residential dwelling must have roll-out carts or dumpsters in place for garbage, refuse and recyclables before the city will remove anything. Subsection (B) then dictates how recyclables must be stored, in roll-out carts approved for pickup by city collection equipment, and bars putting refuse or recycling containers behind closed fences, inside closed structures, under carports, on porches, or in any other location a truck or special-services crew can't reach.

Residents who need a cart can buy one through the Public Works Department or, with Director approval, from an outside vendor, but the cart itself must still be the city-approved design so it works with the semi-automated collection trucks described in § 6-3-24. Multi-family developments face a parallel but stricter mandate: § 6-3-31 requires recycling centers built to a ratio of one 96-gallon container for every 20 units, with a floor of at least one container for any complex under 20 units, and § 6-3-23 requires city-standard fencing, concrete pads and signage at those centers.

Once material is in the cart, § 6-3-8 requires cardboard to be flattened before collection, and the Sanitation Division will skip any corrugated box, carton or container left unflattened.