Tampa City Code § 26-201 Title.
Sec. 26-201. - Title.
This article shall be known and may be cited as the "City of Tampa Recyclable and Recovered Materials Ordinance."
(Ord. No. 91-83, § 8, 5-16-91; Ord. No. 98-247, § 2, 11-5-98)
RECYCLABLE AND RECOVERED MATERIALS
Tampa City Code ch. 26, art. V
in effectTampa City Code § 26-202 Definitions.
Sec. 26-202. - Definitions.
For purpose of this article, certain abbreviations, terms, phrases, words, and their derivatives shall have the following meaning:
Buy-back center means supervised processing or intermediate collection facilities that pay consumers for the recyclable or recovered materials received.
Commercial recyclable collection means departmental or private recycling service for commercial establishments and all other places not classified as residential which produce or accumulate recyclable or recovered materials and maintain centralized locations for recycling bins or other containers.
Contaminated recycling means the placement of items that are not accepted in the program guidelines in the recycling bin/container.
Curbside recycling means the collection of recyclables or recovered materials from that area from within an unobstructed arm reach from the curb or edge of the pavement of a public street or alley serviced by the Department, its contractor or permitted private recycling service.
Department means the Department of Solid Waste and Environmental Program Management.
Director means the director of the Department or their designee.
Drop-off center means either manned or unmanned facilities that rely upon customers to contribute collected recyclables or recovered materials without pay.
Material recycling facility (MRF) means a central location involved in source separating, processing, recovering, storing and marketing recyclable or recovered materials.
Permitted recycling location means a bin, location or other designated area permitted by the city under this article, clearly designated and marked for collecting, sorting, processing and recovery of recyclable or recovered materials.
Private recycling means recycling by any person involved in the business of collecting, separating, processing, storing or transporting recyclable or recovered materials.
Recovered materials means metal, paper, glass, plastic, textile, or rubber, materials that have known recycling potential, can be feasibly recycled, and have been diverted and source separated or have been removed from the solid waste stream for sale, use, or reuse as raw materials, whether or not the materials required subsequent processing or separation from each other, but does not include materials destined for any use that constitutes disposal. Recovered materials as described herein are not solid waste.
Recyclable material means those materials which are capable of being recycled and which would otherwise be processed or disposed of as solid waste.
Recycling means any process by which solid waste, or materials which would otherwise become solid waste, are collected, separated, or processed and reused or returned to use in the form of raw materials or products.
Residential recyclable collection means the departmental or private recycling service collection or transportation of recyclable or recovered materials from residences.
Source separated means the recovered materials are separated from solid waste where the recovered materials and solid waste are generated. The term does not require that various types of recovered materials be separated from each other and recognized de minimis solid waste, in accordance with industry standards and practices, may be included in the recovered materials.
Transporting means to convey recyclable or recovered materials or cause to convey recyclable or recovered materials from one address to another address.
Yard waste includes trees, limbs, boughs, brush or bushes which are susceptible to grinding, shredding or chipping.
(Ord. No. 91-83, § 8, 5-16-91; Ord. No. 98-247, § 3, 11-5-98; Ord. No. 2022-4, § 3, 1-13-2022)
Tampa City Code § 26-203 Recycling permits, applications and documentation, revocation of permits.
Sec. 26-203. - Recycling permits, applications and documentation, revocation of permits.
(a) A recycling permit is required when a commercial refuse bin (usually of the two-cubic to eight-cubic yard size), a roll-off container, or a refuse compactor of any size, volume, shape or character is used to engage in the business of collecting, receiving, separating, storing or transporting any recyclable or recovered materials within the city.
(b) A permit may be granted to a person to engage in the business of collecting, receiving, storing, separating, or transporting recyclable or recovered materials within the city. Any such permit shall limit the recipient to collecting, separating, storing, and transporting recyclable or recovered materials from the particular premises specified in the permit.
(c) If the owner or occupant of a nonresidential premise which generates or produces recyclable or recovered materials chooses not to use the city's recycling service or a private recycling service, such owner or occupant may, upon written application thereof, be issued a permit by the director to collect and transport recyclable or recovered material himself. The application shall indicate the manner of collection and transportation to be utilized and the exact location of such activities. An occupational license tax will not be required for haul-your-own accounts, but the owner or occupant must pay the permit fee as herein provided. Even if such owner or occupant chooses to use the city's recycling service or a private recycling service, such owner or occupant shall be exempt by the Department from the payment of any permit or application fee required by this section for maintaining a refuse bin, can, or box for recovered materials in a certain location, if the location is a religious institution as defined in F.S. § 212.08(7)(m), or an educational institution as defined in F.S. § 2l2.08(7)(cc)8.a.
(d) An application for a permit to engage in the business of collecting, receiving, storing, separating and transporting recyclable or recovered material from a specific address shall be on a form provided by the Department. The form shall show the following information: the name, address and authorization of the customer to be served; the name of the person to be granted the permit or, if a corporation, the names, business addresses and telephone numbers of the principal officers and the local operating managers who are actually responsible for performing such services for the corporation; a description of the type, size, pickup service frequency of equipment to be used; the length of service, permanent or temporary (less than six (6) months) and the exact location of the recycling activities.
(e) There shall be an application fee administered for the processing of each application submitted to the Department. The application fee may be waived for not-for-profit organizations involved in recovering recyclable or recovered materials. The fee is payable in cash or money order when the application is submitted. The application must be submitted to the Department for approval prior to or within seven (7) days from the planned commencement of permanent service. The Department must approve the permit prior to commencement of permanent service. The application fee is not reimbursable if the application for the permit is denied. If the application for permit is approved, the permit shall be issued.
(f) A permit is valid for one (1) calendar year from approval date. The permit shall be renewed annually and also with every change of private recycling firms. The director may revoke permits issued by him for any of the grounds stated in section 26-161 of this Code or for any work, conduct, or activity of the permittee or the business of said permittee found by the director to be against the interest of public health, safety or welfare.
(g) Any permittee who, at his business location, transfer site, drop off center, buy-back center or other site authorized by the director, collects, receives, transports, stores, or separates recyclable or recovered material which is generated within the 1983 jurisdictional limits of the city must dispose of any nonrecyclable solid waste material within or outside the city limits at locations approved by the director and the appropriate governmental entity and shall be subject to pay the solid waste service fee. The owner or his agent, as a condition precedent to receiving this nonrecyclable material at that location, shall apply for and receive a permit from the Department.
(Ord. No. 91-83, § 8, 5-16-91; Ord. No. 92-98, §§ 1, 2, 6-25-92; Ord. No. 98-247, § 4, 11-5-98; Ord. No. 2022-4, § 3, 1-13-2022)
Tampa City Code § 26-204 Recovery of recyclable or recovered materials.
Sec. 26-204. - Recovery of recyclable or recovered materials.
(a) Recovery of recyclable or recovered materials by any person other than the city, its contractors, licensees or permittees from any solid waste generated or brought within the city must occur prior to the placing of such solid waste in a permitted refuse bin or the setting out for residential or commercial collection; and such recovery shall be subject to state and local public health and safety laws.
(b) It is unlawful for any unauthorized person to remove materials from a recycling facility, can, box, or bin at a collection location or curbside.
(c) Any and all recyclable or recovered materials once placed in a permitted bin, box, can, or recycling facility becomes the property of the city or its franchisees, licensees, or permittees.
(d) Every person who is in the business of collecting, receiving, storing, separating, transporting recyclable or recovered materials susceptible to recycling shall be required to list and report to the director, on forms to be prepared by the Department, the quantity of materials recycled. Such list and report shall be due biannually or more often at the request of the director.
(Ord. No. 91-83, § 8, 5-16-91; Ord. No. 98-247, § 5, 11-5-98; Ord. No. 2022-4, § 3, 1-13-2022)
Source: City of Tampa, Code of Ordinances and Charter and Related Laws (Municode Library, library.municode.com)URL: https://library.municode.com/fl/tampa/codes/code_of_ordinances?nodeId=COOR_CH26UT_ARTVREREMAFetched: 10/28/2026