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

Article V of the Pinellas County Code, titled "License Requirements for Residential Solid Waste Collection in Unincorporated Pinellas County," governs anyone who collects, transports or disposes of curbside residential solid waste from single-family homes of four units or less outside the county's incorporated cities. Section 106-250 makes it unlawful to operate without a county-issued collection license from the division of solid waste, and section 106-258 sets the service standards every license holder must meet. Under subsection (5), the license holder must offer curbside recyclable-material pickup to single-family customers not less than once per week, at minimum accepting newsprint, magazines, mixed paper, cardboard, aluminum and steel cans, and plastic containers numbered #1 through #7; the hauler may bill an additional fee for the service.

weekdays except Saturdays, Sundays and legal holidays (subsection (1)), annual written service disclosures to every customer (subsection (9)), and an annual report to the director of the division of solid waste, due January 31, stating the number of customers subscribed to recycling and the total tons of recyclable material collected the prior year (subsection (10)). Because Article V only reaches the unincorporated county, a small share of Pinellas households, most residents of St. Petersburg, Clearwater, Largo, Pinellas Park, Dunedin, Tarpon Springs, Safety Harbor, Oldsmar, Seminole and the beach cities are covered by their own municipality's recycling contract instead of this ordinance.