On 1 October 2026, the rules for household waste in unincorporated Houston County change. New fee, new container rules, new charges for debris, and a written enforcement ladder that ends with your container being taken away.
That is six weeks from today.
And here is the part that made us go back and check three times: the county’s own frequently-asked-questions page still shows the old numbers. Not one of them matches the adopted policy. If you plan a project off what that page says, you will price it wrong.
So this is the new policy, laid out clause by clause, next to what the county’s public pages currently tell you. With a note on which one we believe and why.
Everything here comes from the county’s own published sanitation policy document, from ADEM permit records, and from the Alabama Code. Links to all of it at the bottom.
What changes on 1 October
| New (effective 1 Oct 2026) | |
|---|---|
| Garbage collection | $20.00 per month |
| Each additional container | $10.00 per month |
| Late fee | $5.00 per month |
| Container replacement (damage beyond normal wear) | $150.00 |
| Container retrieval after removal for violation | $50.00 |
The service itself does not change shape: collection stays once weekly, and there is still no county recycling programme. What changes is the price, the specificity of the container rules, and the enforcement.
The container rules are now precise, and each one is a way to be skipped
- Maximum 250 lbs
- Contents loosely placed
- Lid completely closed
- Placed within 3 feet of the edge of the roadway
- Out by 6:00 a.m. on collection day
- Brought back in by close of business the next day
The lid rule and the 250 lb rule are the two that do the most work in practice. An overfull cart with the lid propped open is, by the letter of the policy, not a cart the truck has to empty. And 250 lbs of wet demolition debris is roughly half a cart.
The last one has teeth attached. Leave the container at the roadway for two days or more and the policy says it may be tagged, documented, and removed — with a $50 retrieval charge to get it back.
What the county will not collect — in the county’s own words
The adopted policy names the refused categories directly. Quoted:
“Household furnishings, carpet, construction debris, remodeling debris, appliances, batteries, tires, or propane tanks.”
Houston County Sanitation Policy, effective 1 October 2026
And separately:
“Hot ashes, liquids, paint, tires, animal carcasses, household hazardous waste, or automobile parts.”
Houston County Sanitation Policy, effective 1 October 2026
Also excluded: tree stumps and land-clearing debris.
Notice how much of an ordinary renovation is on those two lists. Carpet. Remodelling debris. Construction debris. The old cooker. The half-tin of paint. The tyres that have been behind the shed for nine years. That is not an edge case — that is the contents of most skip loads in the Wiregrass.
If you are inside the Dothan city limits, the list is different and the city runs a separate weekly trash stream. We covered that here: What Dothan Trash Collection Will Not Pick Up
The clause with the biggest number in it
This is the one to read twice if you are hiring anybody:
Contractor-generated debris carries a minimum $400.00 charge.
Houston County Sanitation Policy, effective 1 October 2026
Four hundred dollars, minimum, if the debris at your kerb was generated by a contractor. Not per truckload — a floor.
The practical consequence is straightforward and worth being blunt about. If a contractor tells you he will “just leave it at the kerb for the county,” that is not a plan. That is a $400 bill with your name on it, because the container and the address are yours. The debris has to leave the property in something that was hired to take it.
Special-order pickup: the actual price list
The county does offer paid collection outside the weekly cart. Call (334) 793-5442, ext. 2.
| Load size | Bulk trash | Yard debris |
|---|---|---|
| Minimum load | $75.00 | $75.00 |
| Half truck load | $150.00 | $150.00 |
| Full truck load | $225.00 | $225.00 |
Two conditions attached that change the arithmetic:
- Bulk trash is only chargeable if the pile exceeds 10 ft × 10 ft. Under that size, the policy treats it differently — see the contradiction section below, because this is exactly where the county’s pages disagree with each other.
- Yard debris is charged at $75 minimum for any quantity. One branch or a trailer load, the minimum is the minimum.
- Limbs are limited to five (5) feet in length.
Run the numbers against a real job before you assume the county route is cheaper. A single-room gut, a roof tear-off, or a garage clear-out will generate several truckloads. At $225 a load, with a five-foot limb limit and a refusal list that excludes carpet, construction debris and appliances, the county service is not designed to be the answer for renovation work. It is designed for household rubbish, and the policy says so plainly.
The contradiction on the county’s own website
Here is what we found, and we want to show our working rather than just assert it.
The adopted policy document published by the county sets out the 1 October figures above. The county’s live sanitation FAQ page, still up as of today, shows a different set:
| Item | County FAQ page (still live) | Adopted policy (from 1 Oct 2026) |
|---|---|---|
| Additional container | $125 one-time | $10 per month |
| Yard debris minimum | $50 | $75 |
| Furniture pickup, pile under 10×10 | Free | See policy — treated under the bulk provisions |
These are not small discrepancies. An additional container at $125 once versus $10 every month is $120 a year against a one-off — the same money in fourteen months, and every month after that is new.
Which one do you follow?
Our reading: the adopted policy governs from 1 October, and the FAQ page appears simply not to have been updated yet. Policy documents supersede FAQ pages. But we are not the county, and we are not going to tell you to rely on our reading of two documents when a phone call settles it.
Ring (334) 793-5442 before you commit to anything that depends on those numbers. Ask specifically: what does an additional container cost after 1 October, and what happens to a furniture pile under 10 by 10. Get the answer from the person who bills you.
And if you are reading this after October, check whether the FAQ has caught up. A page that contradicts the adopted policy is a page that will be corrected eventually.
The enforcement ladder, written down
Previous county waste rules were enforced informally. The new policy sets out a sequence.
- 60 days delinquent — written notice.
- 90 days or more — the container is removed.
- Container left at the right-of-way two days or more — tagged, documented, and may be removed. $50 to retrieve it.
- Quoted debris fee — you have 7 business days to pay after inspection, then 7 more before removal consequences follow.
- Unpaid fees — the policy states these may result in “civil and criminal enforcement as provided by law.”
That last phrase is worth pausing on. Household waste service in Alabama is not optional, and the county says so with a statute behind it.
Why you cannot simply opt out
Ala. Code § 22-27-3 allows counties and municipalities to adopt rules requiring “mandatory public participation in and subscription to such system of services.” Under it, “every person, household, business, industry, or property generating solid wastes” must participate, absent an exception.
Houston County has adopted exactly that. Its own page states the service is mandatory, and cites Ala. Code §§ 22-27-1 et seq.
The statute allows two exemptions:
- Households whose sole income is Social Security — proof to the county health officer by the first billing date each year.
- Households at or below 75% of the federal poverty level, where the legislature has authorised it.
The county implements the first of these, and adds one of its own:
- Social Security exemption — Social Security must be the only source of income for all household members. Requires an application plus the last three bank or Direct Express statements.
- Dumpster exemption — available to residences, businesses and mobile home parks, considered case by case, and applying only to the applicant’s own property.
That second one is worth knowing about if you own a property with its own container arrangement. It is not automatic and it is not permanent — it is an application.
One more thing § 22-27-3 says, in your favour: no charge may be imposed where service was not actually made available.
So where does construction debris actually go in Houston County?
The county will not take it. The city runs its own system. That leaves the landfills, and there are three that matter.
| Facility | ADEM permit | Class | Address |
|---|---|---|---|
| City of Dothan Sanitary Landfill | 35-06 | Municipal solid waste | Owner: City of Dothan, P.O. Box 2128, Dothan AL 36302 |
| Southeast Alabama Regional C/D Landfill | 35-07 | Construction & demolition | 381 Twitchell Rd, Dothan AL 36304 |
| Hughes C/D Landfill | 35-08 | Construction & demolition | 4541 Kinsey Road, Dothan AL 36303 |
The Dothan Sanitary Landfill is the only permitted municipal solid waste landfill in Houston County, permitted at 400 tons per day. And the detail worth knowing if you live outside the city: its ADEM-permitted service area is expressly “Houston County, City of Dothan, City of Headland.” County residents are inside the permitted service area. That is on the permit record, not an assumption.
Gate rates we could not verify. No published tipping-fee table was obtainable, and we could not confirm whether there is a city-versus-county rate difference. Ring (334) 615-3820 and ask before you load.
There is also a discrepancy on hours worth flagging: the city’s own page gives 7:00 a.m. to 3:00 p.m., Monday to Friday, while a third-party waste directory lists 7:00 a.m. to 3:30 p.m. and a site on Burkette Road. Trust the 3:00 p.m. and arrive earlier than you think you need to.
The rule that decides which landfill will take your load
This one saves real money, and almost nobody knows it.
ADEM draws a hard line between the two landfill classes. Municipal solid waste landfills are lined, have leachate collection, and may accept household waste, commercial waste, industrial solid waste, rubbish and construction/demolition waste. Construction and demolition landfills may take C&D waste and rubbish, but ADEM states plainly they “cannot accept garbage, household waste or industrial waste.”
The regulatory definition, at Ala. Admin. Code r. 335-13-1-.03, defines construction/demolition waste as:
“Waste building materials, packaging, and rubble resulting from construction, remodeling, repair, or demolition operations on houses, commercial buildings, and other structures.”
Ala. Admin. Code r. 335-13-1-.03
And it carves several things out of that definition: uncontaminated concrete, soil, brick, waste asphalt paving, rock, and ash from untreated wood.
The practical rule for a homeowner: keep the loads separate. A clean C&D load can go to a C&D landfill. The moment somebody drops one bag of kitchen rubbish on top, the whole load is putrescible and has to go to a municipal solid waste landfill instead.
That is one bag of rubbish changing the destination, and potentially the price, of an entire container. If you are separating anyway for a construction debris container, this is the reason it is worth doing properly.
There are no convenience centres
We looked. Across the whole of the county’s sanitation section there is no convenience centre, no green box, and no drop-off site listed anywhere. The Houston County model is kerbside cart only.
This is a negative finding — absence of evidence rather than a stated policy — so it is worth one confirming phone call if it matters to your plan. But if you have been assuming there is a county drop-off point you can back a trailer up to, we could not find one.
Before somebody suggests burning it
They will. It is the Wiregrass. So here is exactly where the line is.
Alabama’s open burning rule, ADEM Admin. Code 335-3-3-.01, starts from a prohibition and then lists exceptions. The one that covers renovation and land clearing is the conditional exception at subsection (2). Vegetation or untreated wood from land clearing, demolition or construction may be burned only if all of the following hold:
- Burned on the property where it originated
- At least 500 feet from the nearest occupied dwelling (not counting dwellings on the site)
- No traffic hazard created
- Ignition only between 8:00 a.m. and 3:00 p.m., and nothing added after 3:00 p.m.
- Attended at all times
- Good ventilation; no burning during an air stagnation advisory or a gubernatorial drought emergency
And the list of what is never legal to burn
“Heavy oils, asphalt products, plastics, vinyl materials, insulation, paper, cardboard, natural or synthetic rubber, salvage or scrap materials, chemicals, garbage, treated or painted wood, or any trash.”
Ala. Admin. Code r. 335-3-3-.01
Read asphalt products and think about what a roof is made of. Burning asphalt shingles is never legal in Alabama. Neither is treated or painted timber, vinyl siding, insulation, cardboard, or household rubbish.
Which leaves, from a renovation, exactly one eligible stream: clean untreated framing lumber and brush from your own lot, and only under every one of the conditions above.
On permits: the Alabama Forestry Commission requires one under Ala. Code § 9-13-11 for silvicultural and agricultural prescribed burns, and states that no permit is needed for a burn under a quarter of an acre. The permit line is (800) 392-5679. The Commission’s own wording is unambiguous: the burn “must not contain material such as vehicle tires, construction material, household garbage or other material prohibited by ADEM.”
§ 9-13-11 penalties run from a Class B misdemeanor — for letting a fire escape and cause damage, for burning debris without clearing a safe area around it, or for burning without a permit in an organised fire protection area — up to a Class C felony for willfully burning vegetation on land you do not own or control.
For a roof tear-off, see the weight arithmetic here: How Heavy Is a Roof? Shingle Weight Math for Dothan Tear-Offs
The cheapest quote and the presumption that comes with it
Every project in the Wiregrass eventually produces a man with a truck who will take it all away for less than anyone else. Sometimes he is exactly what he says he is. Sometimes the load ends up on a dirt road in the county.
Alabama’s criminal littering statute, Ala. Code § 13A-7-29, defines litter to include “rubbish, refuse, waste material, garbage… trash, scrap metal, debris, plastic… rubber tires, or any foreign substance.” It is a Class B misdemeanor:
- First conviction: fine up to $500
- Second and subsequent: up to $1,000 plus up to 100 hours of litter-cleanup community service, or a fine of $2,000 to $3,000
- Additional fines up to $500 per violation for specified items
- Fines split 50/50 between the state General Fund and the enforcing municipality or county
And now the provision that ought to change how you choose a hauler:
A financial document bearing your name found in the dump creates a rebuttable presumption that you knowingly littered. The governing body must give written notice and 15 days to rebut before prosecution.
Ala. Code § 13A-7-29
An envelope. A statement. A delivery docket with your address on it. If your renovation paperwork is in that pile on the dirt road, the presumption runs against you, and you are the one with fifteen days to explain.
The protection is not complicated: use somebody who tells you which permitted facility the load is going to, and keep the receipt. Illegal dumping complaints in Houston County go through the Alabama Department of Public Health’s county Solid Waste Officer, who inspects vehicles for garbage collectors and haulers within the county — (334) 678-2815.
What to do in the next six weeks
- If you have a project that will produce debris, work out whether it lands before or after 1 October. The pricing and the rules are different on either side of that date.
- Ring (334) 793-5442 and confirm the additional-container charge and the under-10×10 furniture rule. Those are the two points where the county’s own pages disagree.
- If you qualify for the Social Security exemption, apply now. It needs an application plus three months of statements, and the requirement is that Social Security is the only income for every member of the household.
- If you are hiring a contractor, settle in writing who removes the debris and where it goes. The $400 minimum contractor-debris charge attaches to your address, not to his invoice.
- Separate clean C&D from household rubbish from the first day. One bag of kitchen waste changes which landfill will take the whole load.
- If a hauler will not name the facility, use somebody else. § 13A-7-29 puts the presumption on the person whose paperwork is in the pile.
If it is simpler to have a container on site for the duration, that is what a roll-off container or a Houston County container is for — and the debris leaves in one movement, to a named facility, with a record of where it went.
What we could not verify
- Tipping fees at any of the three landfills, and whether county residents pay a different rate from city residents.
- The physical gate address and exact closing time of the Dothan Sanitary Landfill. Two sources conflict: 3:00 p.m. on the city’s page, 3:30 p.m. on a third-party directory.
- Whether Southeast Alabama Regional C/D Landfill is open to the public. ADEM lists an address on Twitchell Road; a waste directory describes a facility of that name as not yet open to the public. Ring before you drive.
- Whether Houston County has any convenience centre or green box. None found anywhere on the county site — but that is absence of evidence.
- Any Houston County-specific open burning ordinance. We found only the state rules; a local ordinance may exist on top of them.
- Alabama state guidance on paint disposal. No state paint-stewardship programme located. Note the tension worth knowing: household paint is legally exempt from hazardous waste regulation, and the county still refuses to collect it. Legal and collected are not the same thing.
This page is general information, not legal advice. Fees, dates and policies change, and at least two of the figures above are in active dispute between the county’s own documents. Where the county, ADEM or the Alabama Code contradicts anything here, that source is right and we will correct this page.
Sources
- Houston County Sanitation Department and the adopted sanitation policy effective 1 October 2026 (PDF)
- Houston County Sanitation FAQ and Sanitation Exemptions — the pages showing the superseded figures
- ADEM — Municipal Solid Waste Landfill Master List (PDF), C&D and Industrial Landfill Master List (PDF) and Solid Waste Disposal in Alabama (PDF)
- Ala. Admin. Code r. 335-13-1-.03 — definitions of construction/demolition waste and landfill classes
- Ala. Admin. Code r. 335-3-3-.01 — open burning
- Alabama Forestry Commission — Burn Permits and Alabama Burn Law, Ala. Code § 9-13-11
- Ala. Code § 13A-7-29 — criminal littering
- Ala. Code § 22-27-3 — mandatory solid waste participation and exemptions
- Alabama Department of Public Health — Houston County Solid Waste Officer, illegal dumping complaints
- City of Dothan — Environmental Services and landfill hours
Related pages
- Dumpster Rental Houston County AL
- Roll-Off Dumpster Rental Dothan AL
- Construction Dumpster Rental Dothan AL
- Yard Waste Dumpster Rental Dothan AL
- Junk Removal Dothan AL
- Estate Cleanout Dothan AL
- Dumpster Rental Headland AL
- Dumpster Rental Midland City AL