Georgia reference · Updated 2026-08-21
The short answer
Portable toilets in Georgia are governed by Ga. Comp. R. & Regs. 511-3-6, which requires that units be furnished by a company certified by the Georgia Department of Public Health and holding a current annual Waste Removal and Disposal Permit. Critically, the rule also places an obligation on you: every special event sponsor and construction site owner must show proof of a service contract with a certified portable sanitation company.
Rule 511-3-6 applies to all portable sanitation service providers in Georgia, and it places specific duties on the customers who hire them.
The chapter regulates anyone in the business of furnishing, renting, or servicing portable chemical toilets and portable hand washing facilities where public sewage treatment or on-site sewage systems are unavailable or insufficient. The only carve-out is for facilities already regulated by the Department of Natural Resources under the Georgia Water Quality Control Act or the Georgia Comprehensive Solid Waste Management Act.
What surprises most people is the second half. The rule does not stop at the vendor. Under 511-3-6-.03(5), each special event sponsor and construction site owner using a portable sanitation unit must hold and show proof of a service contract with a certified portable sanitation company. If you are organising the event or you own the site, that paperwork obligation is yours, and it is the one nobody mentions when they quote you a price.
Liability follows the same pattern. The property owner and special event sponsor, not only the hauler, are responsible for prohibited discharge and unapproved spillage of sewage associated with a unit.
A special event in Georgia is any temporary activity attracting more than fifty persons who congregate outdoors or in portable enclosed structures for more than two consecutive hours.
Both halves of that threshold matter, and both are lower than people expect. Fifty-one attendees for two hours and one minute meets the definition. A company field day, a large church picnic, a school fundraiser, a 5K with a finish-line festival, a farmers market with seating. These routinely qualify without anyone involved realising a regulatory threshold has been crossed.
Once a gathering is a special event, the planning table in Appendix Table 2 governs the minimum number of units, the sponsor needs a service contract with a certified company, and the placement rules in 511-3-6-.03(8) apply to your site layout.
A Waste Removal and Disposal Permit, issued by the county Health Authority where the business is based, renewed annually, and valid in every county throughout the state.
This is the single most useful thing to know when comparing vendors. The permit is issued by the county where the company is based, not the county where your job is, and once issued, it is valid statewide. So a company permitted in Fulton County can legally service a job in Chatham County. Asking a vendor for a local address is the wrong question; asking for the current permit is the right one.
Applications are made in writing on Department forms to the Health Authority for the county where the business is based, at least ten days before the company engages in the activity. The Health Authority then approves or disapproves within twenty days of receiving a completed application. The application must state how contents will be removed, transported, and given final disposal, and include evidence that the waste will be accepted at approved disposal sites.
The practical consequence: a company without a current permit cannot lawfully start your job next week. The approval clock alone runs up to twenty days.
Units must sit as close as practical to the highest concentration of people, as far from food service as possible, and must stay accessible for maintenance by truck at all times.
That last clause is the one that breaks real event layouts. A placement that made sense during load-in on Friday can become unserviceable on Saturday once vendor tents, barricade lines, and crowd-control fencing go up. Georgia rule requires that units remain truck-accessible throughout the event, not just on delivery day, so the service route has to survive your finished site plan.
Safety of users is named as a primary consideration in placement. In practice that means lighting, ground stability, and separation from vehicle traffic all factor into where units can actually go, considerations that rarely appear in a quote but frequently appear in a permit review.
Accessible units follow the Georgia Accessibility Code according to state or local requirements, rather than a fixed ratio written into the sanitation rule itself. That means the accessible-unit count is confirmed against the code and your local permit office for each job.
Only human excreta. Commercial waste, grease, hazardous chemicals, and non-human excreta are prohibited, and the property owner is named as the responsible party.
Georgia assigns this duty to the property owner as the originator of the waste. On construction sites this is the rule most often broken in practice: crews rinsing paint equipment, dumping solvent, or emptying grease into the nearest unit. Doing so converts a routine sanitation service into a hazardous-waste problem, and the rule puts that squarely on the site owner.
The chemistry is regulated too. No strong bases, acids, or organic solvents may be used in the operation of a unit, and all chemicals used in cleaning, operation, or maintenance must comply with applicable federal, state, and local provisions.
Handwashing fixtures carry their own requirements. Fresh water tanks on service vehicles must be filled with potable water only, all fresh water tanks on service vehicles and on hand wash fixtures must carry the international Do Not Drink symbol, and each fixture must hold soap and paper towels sufficient for the entire interval between services, not merely for the first day.
“Any temporary activity attracting more than fifty persons and where individuals congregate to participate in or observe an activity in outdoor or portable enclosed or semi-enclosed structures for more than two consecutive hours.”
511-3-6-.02
In practice: In Georgia, a gathering becomes a regulated special event at 51 people and two hours — a threshold most backyard-scale organizers cross without realizing it.
“Any portable structure or fixture used for the collection, temporary storage and chemical treatment of human body wastes that is not connected to an onsite sewage management system or public or community sewerage system. It includes portable chemical toilets and portable hand washing fixtures.”
511-3-6-.02
In practice: Handwashing stations are regulated units in Georgia, not accessories — they fall under the same chapter as the toilets.
“A person engaged in the business of furnishing, renting or servicing portable sanitation units, and that has met the requirements of this Chapter and is in good standing with the Department.”
511-3-6-.02
In practice: Certification is held by the company and its contractors, and is granted by the Georgia Department of Public Health.
“A development area in which building construction, repair, or land improvement is taking place.”
511-3-6-.02
In practice: Land improvement counts — grading and site-prep crews are covered before a foundation is ever poured.
“A county board of health organized pursuant to O.C.G.A. Sections 31-3-1 et seq.”
511-3-6-.02
In practice: Permits are issued at the county level, which is why the responsible office differs between Fulton, Cobb, Chatham, and Bibb.
“Each special event sponsor and construction site owner utilizing a portable sanitation unit must and show proof of a service contract with a certified portable sanitation company.”
511-3-6-.03(5)
Why it matters: This obligation sits on the customer, not just the vendor. If you sponsor an event or own a construction site in Georgia, you are the party who must be able to produce the contract.
“No person shall engage in the removal or disposal of the contents of a portable sanitation unit without having obtained a Waste Removal and Disposal Permit from the Health Authority for the county in which the business is based. The permit must be renewed annually, and shall be valid in every county throughout the State.”
511-3-6-.03(2)
Why it matters: The permit is issued by the county where the company is based but is valid statewide — so an Atlanta-permitted hauler can legally service a job in Savannah. Ask for the permit, not for a local address.
“Application is made in writing on forms provided by the Department to the Health Authority for the county in which the business is based, at least ten days prior to engaging in such activities. The Health Authority approves or disapproves within twenty days after receipt of a completed application.”
511-3-6-.05
Why it matters: A company that cannot produce a current permit cannot legally take your job next week — the approval clock alone is up to twenty days.
“Portable sanitation units shall be located as close as practical to the highest concentration of participants, observers and employees of special events. However, the units should be placed as far from the food service area as possible. The safety of users shall be a primary consideration in the placement of the units. At special events, portable sanitation units shall be accessible at all times for maintenance by truck.”
511-3-6-.03(8)
Why it matters: Truck access at all times is the constraint most event layouts break. If a vendor tent or barricade line boxes in the units on Saturday morning, they cannot be serviced Saturday night.
“The property owner and special event sponsor are responsible for all prohibited discharge and unapproved spillage of sewage associated with a portable sanitation unit. The property owner and special event sponsor must notify the portable sanitation company if any unit becomes unsanitary, unsafe, or causes a prohibited discharge.”
511-3-6-.03(4)
Why it matters: Georgia assigns discharge liability to you, the site owner or sponsor — not only to the hauler. Documented service intervals are your evidence.
“The property owner, as the originator, is responsible for ensuring that the portable sanitation unit is only used for the disposal of human excreta. Commercial waste, grease, hazardous chemicals, and non human excreta shall not be discarded into portable sanitation units. No strong bases, acids or organic solvents shall be used in the operation of a portable sanitation unit.”
511-3-6-.03(4), 511-3-6-.03(9)
Why it matters: On job sites this is the rule most often broken — crews dumping paint wash, solvent, or grease into a unit shifts a hazardous-waste problem onto the site owner.
“The fresh water tank on the service vehicle must be filled with potable water only. All fresh water tanks on the service vehicles and affixed to hand wash fixtures must be labeled with the international symbol for Do Not Drink. Each hand washing fixture must be sufficiently supplied with soap and paper towels adequate for the duration between servicing.”
511-3-6-.03(10)
Why it matters: Soap and towels must last the whole interval between services — a station stocked for a day but serviced weekly is out of compliance by midweek.
“Units shall be provided in accordance with the Georgia Accessibility Code following state or local requirements.”
511-3-6-.08 Table 2 note
Why it matters: Georgia points to its own accessibility code rather than setting a fixed ratio in the sanitation rule, so the accessible-unit count is confirmed against the code and the local permit office for each job.
Georgia has eighteen public health districts. The Waste Removal and Disposal Permit is issued by the district covering the county where the portable sanitation company is based, and it is valid statewide.
| District | Name | Headquarters | Counties |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1-1 | Northwest Health District | Rome | Bartow, Catoosa, Chattooga, Dade, Floyd, Gordon, Haralson, Paulding, Polk, Walker |
| 1-2 | North Georgia Health District | Dalton | Cherokee, Fannin, Gilmer, Murray, Pickens, Whitfield |
| 2 | District 2 Public Health | Gainesville | Banks, Dawson, Forsyth, Franklin, Habersham, Hall, Hart, Lumpkin, Rabun, Stephens, Towns, Union, White |
| 3-1 | Cobb & Douglas Public Health | Marietta | Cobb, Douglas |
| 3-2 | Fulton County Board of Health | Atlanta | Fulton |
| 3-3 | Clayton County Board of Health | Jonesboro | Clayton |
| 3-4 | GNR Public Health | Lawrenceville | Gwinnett, Newton, Rockdale |
| 3-5 | DeKalb County Board of Health | Decatur | DeKalb |
| 4 | District 4 Public Health | LaGrange | Butts, Carroll, Coweta, Fayette, Heard, Henry, Lamar, Meriwether, Pike, Spalding, Troup, Upson |
| 5-1 | South Central Health District | Dublin | Bleckley, Dodge, Johnson, Laurens, Montgomery, Pulaski, Telfair, Treutlen, Wheeler, Wilcox |
| 5-2 | North Central Health District | Macon | Baldwin, Bibb, Crawford, Hancock, Houston, Jasper, Jones, Monroe, Peach, Putnam, Twiggs, Washington, Wilkinson |
| 6 | East Central Health District | Augusta | Burke, Columbia, Emanuel, Glascock, Jefferson, Jenkins, Lincoln, McDuffie, Richmond, Screven, Taliaferro, Warren, Wilkes |
| 7 | West Central Health District | Columbus | Chattahoochee, Clay, Crisp, Dooly, Harris, Macon, Marion, Muscogee, Quitman, Randolph, Schley, Stewart, Sumter, Talbot, Taylor, Webster |
| 8-1 | South Health District | Valdosta | Ben Hill, Berrien, Brooks, Cook, Echols, Irwin, Lanier, Lowndes, Tift, Turner |
| 8-2 | Southwest Health District | Albany | Baker, Calhoun, Colquitt, Decatur, Dougherty, Early, Grady, Lee, Miller, Mitchell, Seminole, Terrell, Thomas, Worth |
| 9-1 | Coastal Health District | Savannah and Brunswick | Bryan, Camden, Chatham, Effingham, Glynn, Liberty, Long, McIntosh |
| 9-2 | Southeast Health District | Waycross | Appling, Atkinson, Bacon, Brantley, Bulloch, Candler, Charlton, Clinch, Coffee, Evans, Jeff Davis, Pierce, Tattnall, Toombs, Ware, Wayne |
| 10 | Northeast Health District | Athens | Barrow, Clarke, Elbert, Greene, Jackson, Madison, Morgan, Oconee, Oglethorpe, Walton |
Source: Georgia Department of Public Health district directory. Verify a company’s standing with the state Environmental Health office at (404) 657-6534.
Frequently asked questions
You do not personally need a Waste Removal and Disposal Permit. That permit is held by the company hauling the waste. But if the placement supports a special event, meaning more than fifty people gathering for more than two consecutive hours, then as the sponsor you must hold and be able to show proof of a service contract with a certified portable sanitation company under 511-3-6-.03(5). Local permit offices may also require an event or right-of-way permit separately.
Rule 511-3-6 regulates portable hand washing fixtures as portable sanitation units in their own right, and sets standards for potable water, Do Not Drink labelling, and soap and towel supply. Whether one is required for your specific job usually comes down to your local permit office and, for food-service events, county environmental health requirements. Ask the permit office directly rather than assuming the toilet order covers it.
Under 511-3-6-.03(4), the property owner and special event sponsor are responsible for all prohibited discharge and unapproved spillage of sewage associated with a portable sanitation unit. They must also notify the portable sanitation company if any unit becomes unsanitary, unsafe, or causes a prohibited discharge. Separately, the certified contractor and company are responsible for maintaining the unit safely and sanitarily so that it does not become a public health nuisance.
Ask the company directly for its current Waste Removal and Disposal Permit, then confirm it with the county Health Authority that issued it or with the Georgia Department of Public Health State Environmental Health office at (404) 657-6534. The permit is renewed annually, so check the date, not just the existence of a document.
If more than fifty guests congregate for more than two consecutive hours outdoors or in portable enclosed or semi-enclosed structures, the event meets the rule's definition of a special event regardless of whether it is private or ticketed. Most weddings of any size cross that threshold comfortably, which brings the service-contract obligation and the Table 2 planning minimums into play.
Content on this page reproduces public regulatory text for reference. It is not legal advice. Confirm current requirements with your county Health Authority and permit office before relying on them. Page last reviewed 2026-08-21.
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