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

Sec. 2-16-39(a) requires every residential program-recyclables container to be set out in front of the residence, within 3 feet of the curb (or another spot the department designates for curbside pickup), with the container's lid closed and only county-approved bins used. Materials must stay segregated as 'program recyclables,' the chapter's term for recovered materials the director designates as recyclable for residential customers (Sec. 2-16-2). Once program recyclables are placed at or near the curb under subsection (a), or dropped in a county-designated central recycling container, they become the 'sole, unencumbered property of the county' (Sec.

2-16-39(b)); the authorized collector must deliver everything collected to the county's designated material recovery facility. Subsection (c) then bars two things: removing or transporting curbside recyclables if you're not an employee of the authorized collector, and putting containers out earlier than sunset the day before a scheduled pickup or leaving empty bins at the curb past sunset on collection day. A related rule bars placing recyclables out for collection anywhere the authorized collector doesn't service (Sec. 2-16-39(c)(3)), and bars mixing in anything other than designated recyclable materials (Sec.

2-16-39(c)(4)). None of this stops a resident from donating, selling, or otherwise properly disposing of their own recyclables before they reach the curb (Sec. 2-16-39(d)). Program recyclables collection runs once a week, the same day as trash pickup, as part of the standard residential collection service (Sec. 2-16-31(c)(3)), and commingling recyclables with solid waste or yard waste in one load means the whole load goes uncollected (Sec. 2-16-31(b)).