Cape Cod Beach & Transfer Station Stickers 2026: A Town-by-Town Guide to Costs, Where to Buy, and What You Need
If you live on Cape Cod—or own a place here and come down when you can—two little stickers run your summer. One gets your car into the good beach parking lots. The other lets you back your trash up to the transfer station (what everyone here still calls "the dump"). Every one of the 15 Cape towns runs its own program, with its own prices, paperwork, and quirks about who counts as a "resident." We put it all in one place.
Fees change — often mid-spring — and vary by town. The figures below were verified against official town sites for 2026; always confirm on your town's page before you drive over. A few towns don't publish a number online; those are marked "confirm with town."
The Two Stickers, Explained
1. Beach parking permits. A sticker (or, increasingly, a license-plate-linked permit) that lets you park at your town's managed beaches. Resident/"taxpayer" permits are cheaper; non-resident permits cost more, and most towns sell short-term visitor passes (daily/weekly/seasonal). Some beaches are resident-only at peak times.
2. Transfer station / disposal stickers. Proves you can use your town's transfer station for trash, recycling, and bulky items. Most Cape towns have no municipal curbside pickup, so this is how household trash leaves your property if you don't hire a private hauler. Note: Brewster and Dennis now use license-plate recognition (no physical sticker).
The two are separate programs, usually run by separate departments. One does not get you the other.
What to Bring
- Vehicle registration for the car the permit is tied to.
- Proof of residency or property ownership (license with local address, recent property tax bill, or utility bill). Second-home owners: your property tax bill gets you the "taxpayer" rate.
- Photo ID and payment (some offices are card-friendly; some still prefer check).
- Renewing online? Have digital copies ready to upload.
Town-by-Town: 2026 Fees & Where to Buy
Res = resident/taxpayer rate; Non-res = non-resident. "Confirm with town" = not published online at time of writing.
| Town | Beach sticker (res / non-res) | Transfer station | Where |
|---|---|---|---|
| Barnstable ✅ | $55 res / $375 non-res seasonal / $110 weekly / $20 daily | $410 first, $40 second, $100 low-income (Jul 1–Jun 30) | Recreation Dept. |
| Bourne | Confirm with town | Confirm with town | Town/ISWM |
| Brewster ✅ | $25 res (2 per household; $40 for a 3rd+). Required Jun 15–Sep 6 | $50 first car / $15 each add'l (LPR; $10 day pass) | Recycling Center |
| Chatham ✅ | $35 res / non-res $30 day, $90 wk, $190 season (Jun 19–Sep 6 at Hardings, Ridgevale, Cockle Cove) | $150 first / $25 add'l (incl. recycling) | Sticker Office |
| Dennis ⚠️ | $35 daily, credit card only (town.dennis.ma.us/740/Daily-Beach-Pass) — confirmed. Seasonal and weekly rates are not on the town's published fee page; confirm at the sticker office | $210 first / $22 second (LPR; stickerless plate-reader system) | Sticker office |
| Eastham ✅ | non-res $120 (1wk), $175 (2wk), $300 season; daily $30 at First Encounter, Campground, Wiley Park, Cooks Brook. Required Jun 20–Sep 7 | Confirm with town | Beach office |
| Falmouth ✅ | res/taxpayer $40 online before Apr 15, $45 online after, $50 by mail or in person; non-res seasonal $275 in-town / $375 out-of-town; daily $30 Old Silver, $20 Surf Drive & Menauhant East (falmouthma.gov/578/Fees) | Confirm with town | Town Hall / falmouthstickers.townhall247.com |
| Harwich ✅ | $35 resident/taxpayer (not free) / non-res $175 season, $140 two-week, $75 one-week, $30 daily | Confirm with town | Beach sticker sales |
| Mashpee | Stickers sold only to resident property owners and year-round renters; visitors buy one-week beach passes. Required from Jun 27. Fees: confirm with town | Max 2 per household; visitors buy one-trip passes; FY27 sticker required Jul 1. Fees: confirm with town | Town Clerk |
| Orleans ✅ | $35 resident/taxpayer / non-res $420 season, $165 weekly, $35 daily (town.orleans.ma.us) | Confirm with town | Sticker Office (40 Giddiah Hill Rd, May 12–Sep 4) |
| Provincetown ✅ | Parking permits issued from Mar 23; enforcement begins May 1, 7 days/wk. Senior (65+) resident permits free and valid 4 years. Permit fees: confirm with town | $25 annual (res/owner) | Town Hall / DPW |
| Sandwich ✅ | $35 first car / $20 second (same address) | 2nd/3rd vehicle $30; now an electronic license-plate-recognition system, no physical sticker. First-vehicle fee: confirm | Transfer Station |
| Truro ✅ | non-res $250 (4-week) / $375 season; Senior Perks program gives one reduced-price resident sticker per household | Confirm with town | Sticker office |
| Wellfleet ⚠️ | Confirm with town — the town's beach pages were unreachable at time of writing and two different non-resident fee sets are circulating online. Combination beach+transfer stickers are available | $10 per entry without a valid sticker | Permits office (Wellfleet Harbor) |
| Yarmouth ✅ | non-res season $250; $20 daily / $75 weekly at the beach kiosk | $162 first / $81 second ($5 off online or by mail); non-residential $250 | Beach/Disposal offices |
A Quick Word on the National Seashore
Coast Guard, Marconi, Race Point, and Herring Cove are Cape Cod National Seashore beaches—federal, not town. They use a separate NPS vehicle pass (or the America the Beautiful interagency pass), sold by the Park Service, not your town hall. Your town sticker won't get you in.
✅ = fee re-checked against that town's own published fee page in August 2026. ⚠️ = could not be confirmed from a town source this cycle — call before you rely on it. Cells reading "confirm with town" are ones the town does not publish online. Note that permit years differ: Barnstable's transfer sticker runs Jul 1–Jun 30, Yarmouth's expires Mar 31, and Brewster beach permits are only required Jun 15–Sep 6.
Renewal Timing: It's NOT All July 1
A common myth is that every dump sticker renews July 1. The truth:
- July 1–June 30 fiscal year (confirmed): Sandwich, Brewster, Mashpee, Chatham.
- Different cycle: Dennis transfer runs May 1–April 30; Orleans transfer fees key to an April effective date.
- Everyone else: confirm your town's exact dates. Several towns also raise beach prices in mid-spring (Falmouth after April 15), so buy early.
The Bottom Line
The stickers are cheap insurance on a good Cape summer. The only friction is that every town does it differently. Gather your registration and proof of residency, confirm the current fee on your town's page, and knock both out in one spring errand.
Fees verified against official town sites for 2026 and subject to change — always confirm before purchasing.
What to Bring / What You'll Need
Cape Cod Certified picks — essentials worth packing for this trip:
- FLAMDYNO Light-Up LED Beach Balls (4-Pack) — $20: Color-changing waterproof LED beach balls that keep kids bouncing long after sunset on the sand.
- MalsiPree Portable Dog Water Bottle — $15: One-handed, leak-proof bottle with a built-in bowl that recycles unused water back into the bottle. Under six ounces and ready for every boardwalk, trail, and dune walk.
- Sun Bum Mineral SPF 30 Sunscreen Lip Balm — $4: Zinc-based broad-spectrum lip protection with vitamin E; reef-safe.
Plan it with Cape Cod Certified
- The Cape Cod Certified directory — every business visited in person →
- Bookable Cape Cod experiences →
Facts in this guide were last verified by Cape Cod Certified on August 20, 2026.
