Public (Right-of-Way) Dumpster License Checklist – Philadelphia, PA

The Public (Right-of-Way) Dumpster License Checklist is a guide published by the City of Philadelphia Department of Licenses and Inspections (L&I) that lays out the steps to obtain a Public Dumpster License for a dumpster located in the right-of-way.

The checklist is not an application. It describes the order of work in three steps:

• Step 1: Location Check. Confirm the dumpster is not in a prohibited location.
• Step 2: Streets Department Approval. The Streets Department must approve the dumpster location, and you submit your site plan and associated application material through eCLIPSE for Streets ROW review.
• Step 3: Submit an L&I Application. After you receive the Streets Department approval, you submit the Dumpster License application to L&I.

L&I issues dumpster licenses for dumpsters on private property and in the right-of-way, meaning along a street or sidewalk. This checklist covers the right-of-way case only. L&I's dumpster documents page lists a separate private dumpster license checklist for dumpsters on private property, along with the license application, a waste hauler form, a plot plan form and the Streets ROW Public Dumpster Form. The page also notes that all dumpsters in the city need a medallion issued by the Department of Streets. The checklist is marked L_002_CHK (Rev 10.2025).

The checklist is for members of the public who want a Public Dumpster License, that is, a license for a dumpster located in the right-of-way. It is a guide and does not name who may or may not apply beyond its conditions.

Conditions that decide whether you can proceed:

• The location must not be one where dumpsters are prohibited: the Center City area between Bainbridge St., Spring Garden St., the Delaware River and the Schuylkill River, where a licensed public dumpster was not located prior to September 1, 2016; CA-2 (Auto-Oriented Commercial) Zoning Districts; and anywhere a building was constructed, or a use was established, after 1989 and where no licensed public dumpster was located.
• You must be current on all City of Philadelphia taxes and fines and have no outstanding L&I violations.
• You need a Commercial Activity License number for the L&I application.

If the dumpster will sit on private property rather than in the right-of-way, this is not the right checklist: L&I publishes a separate private dumpster license checklist.

The checklist sets an order, not a date: do the location check first, get Streets Department approval second, and submit the L&I application only once you receive that approval. Step 3 says the L&I application follows "once you receive the Streets Department approval," so an application sent earlier lacks the proof of approval it must include. No filing deadline is printed on the checklist, and it is a guide that is not itself submitted. For timing of the license itself, check L&I's dumpster license documents page at https://www.phila.gov/documents/dumpster-license-documents/.

The checklist itself is a guide and is not filed. The steps it describes use two channels: eCLIPSE for Streets approval and L&I for the license application.

• eCLIPSE (Streets Department approval): submit your site plan and associated application material through eCLIPSE for Streets ROW review.
• Online (L&I application): L&I's dumpster documents page says you can apply for dumpster licenses online.
• In person (L&I application): take your application to the Permit and License Center in the MSB Concourse.

Do not mail applications, according to L&I's page. Include with the L&I application your Commercial Activity License number, proof of Streets Department approval and waste hauler information. The checklist names no fee or processing time; contact L&I for those. FillingPDF lets you fill out and download the checklist PDF; submission follows the channels above.