Can an HOA make rules about trash cans?

Yes. An association can require things like where bins are stored between pickups or whether they must be screened from the street, as long as that authority actually comes from its declaration or rules. Collection days and approved container types are usually set by city or county ordinance instead.

Does the city or the HOA control recycling rules?

Both, but for different things. The city typically sets collection schedule, container type, and sorting requirements through its ordinance. The association typically controls storage, screening, and timing through its own governing documents.

Can an HOA require trash cans to be hidden from the street?

Often yes, if the association's declaration or rules authorize that kind of requirement. A city ordinance permitting a container type does not stop the HOA from adding a stricter storage or screening rule on top of it.

Shared spaces, occupancy, and moneyLesson 27 of 33

Academy/Common Rules & Restrictions

Trash and recycling

Two separate rulebooks apply, and mixing them up is the fastest way to send an unenforceable violation notice.

There is no federal or general state law governing trash and recycling in condos and HOAs. Two separate authorities apply: your city or county's ordinance sets collection days, container types, and sorting rules, while your association's declaration and rules can add requirements like bin storage, screening, or timing. Check both before enforcing either.

Two rulebooks, not one

Trash and recycling rules for your community come from two systems that do not automatically talk to each other. Your city or county sets collection rules through its municipal ordinance: which day the truck comes, what counts as an approved container, and how recycling must be sorted. Your association sets its own rules through the declaration, bylaws, and any rules the board adopts under them: where bins live between pickups, whether they must be screened from the street, and what happens when an owner ignores either one.

A violation of one is not automatically a violation of the other. If a resident's bin sits at the curb outside the city's allowed window, that is usually a code-enforcement matter for the city, not an HOA violation, unless your own governing documents separately restrict bin timing. Check both sets of rules before sending a violation notice, and cite the one that actually applies.

What each system typically covers

What falls under each system varies by city and by association, so treat any specific rule as something to verify locally rather than assume.

City ordinances commonly cover container type, collection schedule, and recycling or composting sorting requirements, and enforcement usually runs through the city's code office, not the HOA.

Association rules commonly cover where bins are stored between pickups, whether an enclosure or screening is required, and what architectural review, if any, applies to a structure built to hide the bins.

Neither list is exhaustive, and your neighboring community's rules do not tell you anything about your own. Pull your actual municipal code and your actual governing documents before you draft or enforce anything.

Where the board's authority comes from

A board's power to regulate trash and recycling beyond what the city already requires comes from the declaration, not from a general sense of what seems reasonable. That matters most when a board wants to add a requirement the original declaration never mentioned, like a specific bin color or a new screening standard.

Whether the same limit applies in your state, and how far it reaches, is a question for your own state's law and your own declaration's amendment clause. Read the clause that supposedly grants the authority before you rely on it.

Check yourself

Answer before you read the explanation, recalling it is what makes it stick.

A city ordinance says recycling bins may not go out before 6pm the night before pickup. A homeowner puts bins out three days early and a neighbor complains to the board. What is the board's most accurate next step?

The city allows any trash container, but the association's rules require cans to be stored inside a garage or screened enclosure between pickups. A homeowner argues the HOA cannot regulate something the city already allows. Is the homeowner correct?

A declaration lets the board amend it to add "reasonable new restrictions." The board wants to use that clause to add a brand new recycling bin color requirement never hinted at anywhere in the original document. At least one state supreme court has said this kind of stretch is:

Sources

Kalway v. Calabria Ranch HOA, LLC, 506 P.3d 18 (Ariz. 2022), Justia (Arizona Supreme Court)

Common Rules & Restrictions

Next: see how the same two-rulebook logic plays out for bin and equipment storage in Storage.

What counts as an approved container, pickup schedule, or screening requirement is set by your city or county's ordinance, not by any state or federal law, and how far your board can add its own storage or screening rules beyond that depends on what your declaration actually authorizes.

Not legal advice

totalHOA Academy is intended to provide general educational information and a practical starting point for understanding community association governance and operations. While we aim to provide useful and accurate information, we do not guarantee that every article is complete, current, or applicable to your specific association or situation.

Nothing in the Academy should be considered legal, financial, tax, accounting, or other professional advice. Laws vary by state, and your association's declaration, CC&Rs, bylaws, rules, policies, and other governing documents may impose different requirements.

Use the information in the Academy at your own discretion. Before making decisions that affect your association, its owners, finances, legal rights, or obligations, review your governing documents and consult an attorney, accountant, or other qualified professional when appropriate.