Dothan, AL Trash & Recycling: Recycling Rules (2026)

Section 82-123 governs how Dothan residents who join the city's residential recycling program must use their bins. Subsection (a) lets any residential refuse producer participate by collecting recyclable materials and either placing them in a recycling container at curbside by the designated collection day, or hauling them to a city recycling drop-off site if one is provided. Subsection (b) requires that the container be the standard one issued by the city, not a substitute. Subsection (c) sets the timing residents must follow: a container cannot be set out at the curb earlier than dusk on the day before the scheduled pickup, and once it has been emptied, the producer must pull it back behind the front building line as soon as practicable, and no later than 6:00 a.m. the day after collection.

Subsection (d) limits what the container is for: no person may use a recycling container for anything but the recycling program, no one may put garbage or other refuse in it, and it is unlawful to borrow, steal, damage or otherwise remove a recycling container from someone else's curbside use. Subsection (e) makes clear the standard city-issued container remains city property and must stay behind at the residence if a resident moves out rather than leaving with them. Because the article does not carve out its own fine schedule for these placement and misuse rules, an infraction falls back on Chapter 1's general penalty provision, which the code applies whenever a specific chapter is silent on punishment.