Albany, OR Trash & Recycling: Recycling Rules (2026)

Recycling collection in the City of Albany, Oregon, is a franchised service. Section 3.28.020(3) says that, except for the franchise under chapter 3.28, no person shall provide service, offer to provide or advertise for the performance of such service, or provide service to any tenant, lessee or occupant of property that person owns, operates or manages. Section 3.28.030(6) defines service to include collection, transportation, reuse, recycling, or other resource recovery from or disposal of solid waste. The exclusive right belongs to Albany-Lebanon Sanitation, Inc., under § 3.28.040(2).

Section 3.28.040(4) lists what that exclusivity does not prohibit. A person can transport solid waste he or she produces to an authorized disposal site or resource recovery facility, provided the load complies with § 3.28.140(5), which requires any vehicle hauling solid wastes to be loaded and operated so nothing drops, sifts, leaks or blows onto a public right-of-way or adjacent lands. A person can contract with a state or federal agency to serve that agency, but must apply for a franchise for that service only and comply with the chapter's requirements other than conflicting rates or terms set by the agency contract. The City Council can also withdraw certain resource recovery practices from regulation, but only on a written finding that they need not be regulated and that there is no substantial impact on service, including recycling and reuse, on consumer rates or on the franchisee's business.

Paragraph (d) is the rule that reaches neighborhood recycling drives and drop boxes. A charitable, civic or benevolent activity can provide service for its own benefit, and merely operating as a nonprofit entity does not qualify. Its recycling or reuse containers must be located on private property, designed and maintained so that no material is deposited outside the containers at any time, and set on a site kept free of materials intended to be within the container. Each container must be clearly identified with the name of the sponsoring organization and a telephone number to call if problems arise.

Separately, § 3.28.070(3)(c) lets the franchisee impose reasonable quality-control requirements on people in source separation programs, subject to City Manager approval before implementation.