Hendricks County, IN Trash & Recycling: Recycling Requirements (2026)
Key Facts
- Governing section
- § 90.32(A)
- Scope
- Unincorporated Hendricks County only
- Adopted
- Ord. 1993-29, 8-2-1993
- First-offense fine
- Up to $2,500 (§ 10.99)
- Repeat-offense fine
- Up to $7,500 (§ 10.99)
Summary
Hendricks County bans putting non-recyclable material into any container or facility set up to collect recyclables, and bans scavenging from those containers. The rule sits in the county's solid waste chapter, alongside its roadside-dumping and illegal-landfill prohibitions.
§ 90.32 PROHIBITED ACTS.
(A) Recycling facilities.
(1) No person shall discard any materials, other than recyclables, in any facility or container intended for collecting designated recyclable materials.
(2) No person shall conduct scavenging at any facility or container intended for collecting materials with value as a designated recyclable material.
Official source re-checked September 7, 2026: no newer edition of the code had been published (publisher’s edition: 2025 S-3: Supplement contains: Local legislation current through Ord. 2024-50, passed 12-10-2024; and State law current through Indiana Legislative Service, 2025 Acts, Pamphlet No. 3).
Full Breakdown
32 of the Hendricks County Code of Ordinances, adopted under Ordinance 1993-29, splits solid waste "Prohibited Acts" into recycling-facility rules and dumping rules. Under division (A), no person may discard anything other than designated recyclable materials into a container or facility meant for collecting recyclables, and no person may scavenge, meaning remove materials, from a recycling container or facility. 32(A)(2). The same section's dumping division (B) separately bars discarding solid waste along any county roadway outside an approved storage container, dumping fill material without the property owner's consent, and dumping at any site that is not an approved, permitted landfill.
Because Hendricks County's general code governs only the unincorporated area, these rules apply outside Danville and the county's other incorporated towns, which set their own trash and recycling rules. Enforcement of Chapter 90 runs through the county Health Officer and Health Board process described earlier in the chapter, with violations that reach the Board of Health subject to a hearing before any notice of violation is sustained, modified, or revoked.
Violations & Fines
Violating 90.32, including dumping non-recyclables into a recycling container or scavenging from one, is punished under 90.99. Because 90.32 carries no specific fine of its own, it falls under 90.99(A), which routes the offense to the county's general penalty at 10.99: a fine up to $2,500 for a first violation and up to $7,500 for later violations, with each day of continued violation a separate offense.
Frequently Asked Questions
Can I put trash in a county recycling bin if it's full?
Is it illegal to take items out of a recycling bin?
Does this rule apply inside Danville?
Sources & Official References
Other rules in Hendricks County
Compare Hendricks County to another location·View the Indiana trash & recycling overview
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