Dothan Garbage, Trash and Landfill Guide
What the city collects, what it leaves at the curb, and what to do with the rest. Cart rules, pile limits and landfill hours in one place.
What the City of Dothan Collects
The City of Dothan collects garbage, recycling and trash weekly. Bagged household waste goes in the green cart. Recycling goes loose in the blue cart. Yard waste and bulk items go out as one curbside pile. All of it needs to be at the street by 6:00 AM. What the city will not take is the part that catches people out, and that is most of this page.
All three collections are run by the Environmental Services Division, at 281 Complex Drive, Suite 1, Dothan AL 36303, open Monday to Thursday, 6:00 AM to 4:30 PM. Friday is limited crews handling missed collections only. The city’s number for collection questions is (334) 615-3820. That is the city’s line, not ours.
The Green Cart: Household Garbage
Bagged household waste, food waste, packaging, everyday refuse. It has to be inside the city issued green cart. A bag set beside the cart or on the lid will not be collected.
- Cart out by 6:00 AM on your collection day
- Facing the street, with clear space around it
- Items outside the cart will not be collected
- Overfilled or badly placed carts will not be serviced
- Each resident gets one 95-gallon cart
- A second cart is available for a $50 fee billed to your utility account
Overfilled means the lid will not close. Badly placed means blocked in by a car, a mailbox or your own trash pile. Both look like a missed pickup. Neither is.
The Blue Cart: Recycling
Recycling in Dothan is voluntary. If you use the blue cart, the accepted list is short and strict, and anything not on it will not be collected as recycling.
| Accepted in the blue cart | Never in the blue cart |
|---|---|
| Cardboard (OCC) | Garbage |
| Mixed paper | Hazardous materials |
| Plastics numbered 1 to 5 | Sharp objects |
| Aluminum beverage cans | Anything not on the accepted list |
| Steel cans |
- Place recyclables loose. Do not bag them.
- Out by 6:00 AM, same as the green cart
- Contaminated carts may not be serviced, and may be removed
That last line matters. A blue cart used as a second garbage can is not a small mistake. It can cost you the cart.
The Trash Pile: Yard Waste and Bulk Items
Trash collection is the third service, and the one people know least about. It covers yard waste, meaning leaves, limbs and grass clippings, and bulk items, meaning furniture and appliances. It goes out as a pile, not in a cart.
- Place it curbside, not in the street
- Stack it neatly, with space for boom truck access
- One pile per residence
- Excessively large piles may not be collected
- Limbs no longer than 5 feet and no thicker than 8 inches
- No construction or demolition debris, no tires, no commercial waste
So yes, the city will take a couch and a dead washer off your curb, inside those limits. If your item fits the rules and you can wait for collection day, use the city service.
For the Part the City Leaves Behind
Remodel debris, tires, a pile that is really four piles, or a load you cannot get to the landfill on a Thursday morning. Tell us what it is and a price comes back.
- Free, no-obligation estimate
- No 6:00 AM trip to the landfill
- The crew carries it out, you do not lift anything
- One visit, swept clean before we pull away
Your request goes to an independent local hauler, who contacts you with a quote. Junk Pickup Dothan does not do the hauling itself.
What the City Will Not Take
This is the part that sends people looking for a hauler. Six things get left at the curb, over and over.
| What gets left | The rule behind it |
|---|---|
| Construction and demolition debris | Not accepted with trash collection |
| Tires | Not accepted |
| Commercial waste | Not accepted at all |
| Anything outside the green cart | Garbage has to be inside the cart |
| Oversized piles | Excessively large piles may not be collected |
| Long or thick limbs | Over 5 feet long, or over 8 inches thick |
Construction and demolition debris
This is the big one. Pull up a bathroom floor, tear out kitchen cabinets, rip up deck boards, and none of it goes in the trash pile. Cabinets, countertops and trim from a remodel read as demolition debris, not bulk furniture. Hauling it off is ordinary work for us. See what gets hauled.
Anything outside the green cart
The cart fills on Tuesday, the extra bags go beside it, and on collection day the cart is emptied and the bags stay. If that is every week, a second cart at $50 is the fix. A one time surge is different: a cleanout clears it in one visit.
Limbs over 5 feet or 8 inches
Five feet is shorter than people picture, and 8 inches is a modest trunk section, not a log. Cut the pile to size and the city takes it. Leave it long and it stays. After a storm, nobody wants to spend Saturday sizing brush, which is where storm debris removal comes in.
Tires and commercial waste
Tires are a flat no, which is why they end up behind sheds all over Houston County. Commercial waste is the other one. If it came out of a business or a job site, residential collection is not the route.
One Pile Per Residence, and What That Means in a Move
Read the trash rule again. One pile per residence, and excessively large piles may not be collected. On a normal week that never bites.
A move is not a normal week. Neither is clearing a parent’s house or emptying a rental between tenants. Those make four or five piles worth of material at once, against a date. The problem is volume plus a deadline.
Spreading it over several collection days works only if you have the weeks and the material qualifies. Otherwise it is a container in the driveway or a crew that loads it out in one visit. Our cleanout page covers planning a whole property job, and the dumpster comparison says when a roll-off is cheaper.
Hauling It Yourself Versus Having It Hauled
Start with the hours. The landfill runs Monday to Thursday, 6:00 AM to 4:30 PM. No Friday, no weekend, no evening. You take time off work, or load a trailer in the dark at 6:00 AM before your shift. That is why most self hauling plans die in the driveway.
The rest is ordinary math. A truck or trailer, borrowed at the cost of a favor. Loading it, which is the actual work. Tying it down, because a mattress at highway speed is a real hazard. Unloading by hand at the far end, times the number of trips.
The honest split is this. A few boxes and a broken chair in a pickup you already own is genuinely fine to take yourself, so go do it. A garage packed front to back, or anything needing three trips and two people who can lift a chest freezer, is where paying somebody makes sense.
Storm and Hurricane Debris
The Wiregrass does not get yard debris steadily. It arrives all at once. One line of storms crosses Houston County and by evening every other yard between Dothan and Ashford has limbs down.
The normal limits still stand: one pile per residence, limbs no longer than 5 feet and no thicker than 8 inches, and no excessively large piles. A storm pile fails all three unless somebody sizes it down. If collection changes after a major event, the city announces it on its own site. Check there, and do not assume a special pickup exists until the city says so.
Photograph the damage before anything moves, because insurance wants to see it in place. Then do not let brush sit: it kills the grass under it and dries into a fire concern. Storm piles are covered on the yard and storm debris page. One limit: the haulers take wood already on the ground, and they are not a tree service.
Dothan Garbage and Landfill Questions
What day is my garbage collected in Dothan?
The city publishes the collection schedule and the holiday schedule on its own site, and that is where to look up a specific street. The timing does not change: cart at the street by 6:00 AM, facing the street, clear space around it.
Does the City of Dothan take furniture and appliances?
Yes. They count as bulk items under trash collection. Curbside rather than in the street, stacked neatly, with space for boom truck access, one pile per residence.
Can I put out more than one pile?
One pile per residence, and excessively large piles may not be collected. Rarely a problem on a normal week. Almost always a problem during a move or a cleanout.
What does the City of Dothan not accept?
Construction and demolition debris, tires and commercial waste. Garbage outside the green cart. Limbs over 5 feet long or over 8 inches thick. In the blue cart, anything other than cardboard, mixed paper, plastics 1 to 5, aluminum beverage cans and steel cans.
What are the Dothan landfill hours?
Monday to Thursday, 6:00 AM to 4:30 PM. Friday is limited crews handling missed collections only. No weekend and no evening, which is why self hauling is hard on a working schedule. Confirm current hours with the city first.
Can I get a second garbage cart?
Each resident gets one 95-gallon green cart. A second cart is available for a $50 fee billed to your utility account. Arrange it through the City of Dothan Environmental Services Division.
When the City Route Runs Out
Most weeks the city handles it. Carts out, pile out, everything disappears. This page is for the weeks it does not: remodel debris, the pile that is really four piles, the tires, the load needing three Thursday mornings you do not have.
That is our work, across Dothan and Houston County and out to Ozark, Enterprise, Headland, Daleville and Ashford. The full list is on the services page, and the contact page says what to send. One photo usually answers the rest.
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