Lexington, KY Trash & Recycling: Recycling Rules (2026)

Recycling service in the urban county is opt-in rather than automatic. Section 16-3 provides that the urban county government supplies a standard roll cart to every eligible residential and multi-unit property in the full or partial urban services district, but a second roll cart for recyclable materials is only provided 'upon request', residents who want curbside recycling have to ask the Division of Waste Management for the container rather than receiving one by default. The same opt-in structure applies to office, commercial, and industrial properties eligible for roll cart service under section 16-3.

For properties on dumpster service instead of roll carts, section 16-4(e) lets the urban county government add a separate dumpster for recyclable materials, but unlike the standard refuse dumpster, the recycling dumpster must be furnished at the property owner's own expense rather than supplied by the government. Once a resident or business has requested and received a recycling container, sections 16-9 and 16-10 govern how it's prepared and set out, the same bundling, weight, and curb-timing rules that apply to trash containers apply to the recycling roll cart as well, and it's collected on the same weekly day as regular garbage under section 16-10(a).