Permits

Do You Need a Permit for a Dumpster in Enfield?

The placement answer is usually no. But there is a second permit in this town that catches contractors out, and it is the building permit.

Two different permits

People ask "do I need a permit for a dumpster" and mean placement. In Enfield there is a second permit that matters more, and it has nothing to do with where the container sits.

1. Placement. Do you need permission to put the container where you want it? Usually no, if it is your own driveway.
2. The building permit. If a contractor is disposing of demolition material through the Town, the building permit must accompany them. No permit, no disposal.

There is a third permit in play as well — the transfer station sticker — which is different again and covered below.

Placement: private property needs nothing

A driveway, a private parking area, a fenced construction site, a commercial lot you own or lease — all private property, no municipal permit required for the container itself.

Two caveats that are not placement permits but function like them. The underlying work may need a building permit — roofing, structural, electrical, plumbing and additions generally do, and in this town that permit has a second use, so get it either way. And any HOA or condominium rules may restrict placement and duration.

Placement: public street needs a permit

Placing a container in the street means occupying public space, and every jurisdiction we work in regulates that. The permit exists for emergency access, sight lines, drainage and night-time visibility.

Our honest advice: if there is any way to get the container onto private property, do that. On the tighter mill-village lots in Thompsonville, Rockville or Stafford Springs — and across much of Springfield — it is occasionally the only option, but it needs arranging in advance.

The building permit rule

This is the Enfield-specific thing worth understanding, and it catches contractors from out of town regularly.

Two things follow. If you are hiring a contractor, the debris is theirs to remove and they need to have told you how. And if the route is Town disposal, the paperwork has to be in order before the material moves — which in practice means the building permit for the job needs pulling before demolition starts, not afterwards.

The alternative the Town names explicitly is a private waste company. That is us, and it is why most contractors here simply book a container: no appointment, no permit to carry, no $150 per truck load, and the container sits on the job for the duration.

The transfer station permit is a third thing

Worth separating out because the word "permit" is doing three different jobs in this town.

The transfer station on Town Farm Road requires a permit sticker, purchased at the station itself. To buy one you need a vehicle registration showing Enfield residency. With a valid permit, yard waste can be brought without additional fees.

Some things need no permit at all: scrap metal, cardboard, televisions, microwaves and electronics are free with no permit required. Electronics are free to residents with proof of residency.

Questions about commercial permits, borrowed vehicles or temporary permits go to the Refuse and Resource Management Division rather than being decided at the gate.

The obvious limitation: the permit is tied to Enfield residency, so it does nothing for you in Somers, Suffield, Vernon, or anywhere over the state line.

Winter makes street placement harder

Worth planning around in this climate.

Between roughly December and March, a container in the street is in the plow's way, and every town in north central Connecticut takes snow removal seriously because it has to. Expect street placement to be considerably harder to obtain in those months, and expect any permission granted to come with conditions about removal before a storm.

Plan on the driveway. If the driveway will not take it, talk to us early rather than the week before. More on winter placement here.

Two states, a dozen towns

Our service area spans Hartford and Tolland Counties in Connecticut and Hampden County in Massachusetts. There is no single office that covers it, and the rules change at the state line as well as the town line.

That state line is the one people underestimate. Longmeadow, East Longmeadow, Agawam, West Springfield and Springfield are all Massachusetts — different town arrangements, different state waste bans, and the Enfield transfer station is not available to you at all.

Equally, Enfield's rules do not travel south either. Suffield, Somers, Windsor and Vernon each have their own arrangements.

What we need from you

• Whether the container is going on private property or the street
• Which town, and which state
• Whether this is your own work or a contractor's
• Whether the underlying work is permitted
• Your driveway width and surface, and in winter where the snow gets pushed
• Whether there are low branches or overhead lines near the placement

If street placement turns out to be necessary, we will tell you which office to approach. We cannot pull the permit on your behalf — it attaches to the property owner or contractor — but we can make sure you are asking the right authority first time.