Raleigh may consider rules, penalties to stop early morning Dumpster noise
There are six dumpsters in the medical office parking lot behind Cindy Holmes’ townhome.
She knows exactly when they’re emptied, usually between 3 and 7 a.m., three days a week.
“If you want mixed-use, if you want office buildings behind our home, that’s fine,” Holmes said. “But we shouldn’t have to be awake all night long.”
“And then the nights that they don’t come, we’re awake anyway because we’ve been disturbed for the last four nights,” she added.
Holmes contacted the private garbage company, the office tenants and has called the police since 2019 trying to remedy the noise problem. Now she’s asking Raleigh city leaders to limit when private companies can empty their dumpsters.
The city doesn’t have rules like some other cities do. Charlotte, Winston-Salem, Cary and Fayetteville all regulate when dumpsters can be emptied.
City crews collect trash carts from homes starting at 6 a.m. but are able to start at 5 a.m. in the downtown area. Collection from multi-family and commercial dumpsters begins around 6:30 a.m.
Holmes spoke to the Raleigh City Council’s Safe, Vibrant and Health Community Committee meeting on Tuesday, as the city tries address noise complaints, primarily around nightlife districts in downtown.
“[Noise] tolerance is subjective, highly subjective,” said Patrick Young, the city’s planning director. “If I put your hand on a stove, 100% of you would scream. But if I dropped a book, only about a quarter or half of people would be annoyed or irritated by that. So that makes it challenging to regulate and manage noise.”
The city will consider changing its ordinance to specify when and where dumpsters can be picked up, and what type of penalty companies could face for violations. Proposed changes will likely be back before city leaders this summer.
“I just want to make sure by forcing different hours there aren’t some other implications that are unforeseen that will surface,” said Council member Mitchell Silver. “I want to make sure we think through, if we go that route, the implications.”
This story was originally published May 30, 2025 at 8:00 AM with the headline "Raleigh may consider rules, penalties to stop early morning Dumpster noise."
