01The short answer
A 10 to 20 yard roll-off, delivered anywhere in Auburndale from $425 with no distance charge, seven days a week between 9 AM and 6 PM. A driveway drop needs nothing from the city. A can on the street needs a permit from the city manager first, because Auburndale's code makes it unlawful to block any street, curb, gutter or sidewalk without one.
The rest of this page is what is particular to Auburndale: whether your address is city or county, what the city pickup will not take, the lakes, and where the load ends up.
02City or county? It decides who you call
Auburndale covers about 20.6 square miles, and roughly 7 of them are water. The city line works its way around the lakes, so plenty of homes with an Auburndale mailing address are actually in unincorporated Polk County. That changes who picks up your trash and who you ask about the street.
Inside city limits
- Trash and bulk pickup: City Public Works Sanitation, 863.965.5511.
- A can on the street: a permit from the city manager first.
- A can on your driveway: no permit that we could find.
Unincorporated Polk County
- Trash and bulk pickup: Polk County Solid Waste, 863.284.4319.
- A can on the street: Polk County's code requires a Right-of-Way Use Permit for any activity in a county road right-of-way, and the county issues those around utility work. In practice the can stays on your property. Roads and Drainage is on 863.535.2200.
- A can on your driveway: no permit that we could find.
That comes from Chapter 20 of the City of Auburndale code and section 706 of Polk County's Land Development Code. Neither publishes a fee for a dumpster on the street, so check before you plan a street drop.
We will tell you which side of the line you are on before you book. Most jobs here are a driveway drop, and then none of it applies.
03The city pickup will not take your remodel
Auburndale's code defines trash in a way that leaves out most of what a renovation produces. The definition excludes earth, trees, large limbs, wallpaper, roofing material, plaster and concrete, and anything that piles up from repairs, building work, clearing a lot or taking trees down.
Bulk pickup does exist, by request and for an extra charge, and it has to be sorted before the truck comes: large yard debris, furniture, construction and demolition material, appliances, tires and lumber, each in its own pile. The city does not publish the rate, so you have to call and ask.
Yard waste goes out on Wednesdays. The city's website says to cut limbs to 48 inches and the code says 60. Cut them to 48 and you are inside both.
Polk County's residential service says plainly that no construction debris and no eviction or move-out loads will be collected. If you are a county address clearing out a rental, the curb is not an option at all.
Curbside recycling in the city ended on 1 October 2023. It is a drop-off now, at the Public Works yard on Charles Avenue.
04A third of the map is water
Lake Ariana is 1,019 acres and public. Lake Arietta is 739 acres and private. The city has parks on Lake Myrtle, Lake Ariana, Lake Dickie and Lake Stella. A lot of Auburndale houses back onto one of them, and a lakefront yard usually runs downhill to the water.
What that means for the can
- It goes on the driveway or a hard, level spot near the road, not down the slope. A full can is heavy, and soft ground near the water is where a truck gets stuck.
- Boards go under the rollers every time.
- A photo of where you want it, taken from the road, tells us more than a description.
The trees
Auburndale's landscaping rules say that during construction, unless the vegetation removal permit allows it, no excess soil, fill, equipment, liquids or construction debris can go within the drip line of any vegetation that is required to be preserved. If your job has a permit with protected trees on it, the can goes outside the drip line. Tell us and we will put it there.
05A fast-growing town, and one-off jobs
Auburndale has grown quickly. The Census counted 15,579 people in 2020 and estimated 21,369 by July 2025, up about 37 percent. So there are plenty of new builds and first move-ins, alongside a good share of houses built between 1940 and 1969.
We rent cans by the job. We do not run weekly garbage service, and inside city limits that is the city's business: private contractors doing regular garbage and trash removal have to register with the city and pay it a 20 percent surcharge. A roll-off for a remodel, a cleanout or a fit-out is a single job with a start and an end, which is the only kind we do.
06Where your load actually goes
Auburndale roll-offs go to the Polk County North Central Landfill, 7425 De Castro Road in Winter Haven, about fifteen minutes from downtown. It takes commercial haulers carrying Polk County material only. If you are hauling a trailer load yourself, the county sends residents to its North Central Transfer Station on K-Ville Avenue in Auburndale instead.
| Material | Per ton |
|---|---|
| Construction & demolition | $46, then $48.30 from 1 October |
| Household garbage | $46, then $48.30 from 1 October |
| Yard trash | $36.50, then $38.33 from 1 October |
| Appliances without Freon | $27.50 |
| Appliances with Freon | $50 |
| Passenger car tires | $300 |
Two rows are worth a second look. Tires tip at $300 a ton, which makes them the most expensive thing per pound you can put in a can. And a fridge with refrigerant still in it costs nearly double one without. Tell us if either is going in and we will price it properly.
07What cannot go in the can
Polk County will not landfill batteries, household chemicals, motor oil and filters, gas cylinders, bulk liquids, electronics or paint, and asbestos is turned away at the gate.
Those go to the Household Hazardous Waste facility at 5 Environmental Loop South, Winter Haven: Friday 8 AM to noon and Saturday 7:30 AM to 12:30 PM, free for Polk residents, no business waste. It takes car and boat batteries, fuel and gas cylinders up to 5 gallons, motor oil, antifreeze, pesticides, fluorescent lights, flares, cooking oil, paint up to 20 gallons a year, and up to five electronic items a visit. It does not take sharps, medications or biohazard waste.
The full list, item by item, is on what can’t go in the can.
More towns we cover: Plant City, Thonotosassa and Bradenton.
Not sure which size you need? Drag the handle on the size guide and the can grows with you. Also worth two minutes: do you need a permit? and what can’t go in the can. More reading: what a dumpster costs, roofing dumpsters, junk removal, hurricane debris pickup and all our guides.