Austin is the state capital of Texas, located near San Antonio in the United States. Austin’s Solid Waste Management Department provides garbage and recycling services to the residents of Austin. They offer trash services on a weekly, biweekly, and annual basis. Besides these efforts, residents must cooperate with the Solid Waste Management Department to ensure cleanliness in Austin. Residents are required to follow sanitation rules when disposing of their trash.
Find Your Collection Day
If you are not sure about your Austin Trash Schedule and want to know your collection day, click the link below to get information about your trash, recycling, bulk, and brush collections. When you click the link, it will direct you to the Play Store. From there, you can install the Austin Collection Schedule app, which will inform you about all your trash-related services.
Get the Austin Collection Schedule App
Or you can also check here: https://www.austintexas.gov/services/view-your-recycling-composting-and-trash-schedule
Garbage Collections
Place your carts by 5:30 AM on your collection day to ensure your garbage collection in Austin. Your garbage carts will be serviced once a week. Check the link mentioned above to identify your garbage collection day. Once you know your collection day, place your cart at the curbside on time. Similarly, remove your carts as soon as possible after they are collected. Additionally, place only closed-lid carts at the curbside to reduce litter in the street.
There are some rules and regulations that residents must follow when placing their carts at the curbside. For example, place your cart so that its lid opens toward the front of the street. The wheels should face the back of the street so that you can easily roll it back. When placing your cart, leave a distance of 5 feet from all static obstacles, such as parked cars, poles, and mailboxes. Similarly, leave a distance of 3 feet from all other containers.
Recycling Collections
Recycling carts will be collected every other week. Place your cart at the curbside by 5:30 AM along with your garbage cart to ensure your recycling collection. While placing your cart, leave a clearance of 5 feet on both sides of the recycling cart. Moreover, put all recycling trash loosely into the cart; otherwise, it will not be collected.
Do not add any plastic bags to recycling carts because they slow down the recycling process and cause problems. If you have a lot of trash that does not fit into your recycling cart, place all extra recycling trash next to your recycling cart. It will be collected free of cost. Do not put Styrofoam into recycling carts because these are not recyclable.
Acceptable recycling materials include paper, hard plastic, metal cans, steel cans, aluminum foil, glass bottles and jars, water/soda bottles, jars/tubs, non-battery toys, buckets/baskets, lawn chairs, and cardboard. Place only flattened cardboard into the recycling cart. Do not put any irrelevant materials into the recycling cart.
Report Missed Collections
Did the collection crew miss your cart during collection? If you experience this situation and want an appropriate solution, call 311 to report your missed trash collection. Alternatively, you can also send them an email to report missed trash collection. Once you report your missed collection, the sanitation department will collect your trash on the next business day.
Bulk Items Collections
Bulk trash includes doors, carpet, furniture, appliances (remove doors), passenger car tires (remove rims; limit eight tires per household), lawn mowers (remove gas/oil), railroad ties (cut in half), pallets, rolled fencing, and nail-free lumber. This bulk trash will be serviced twice a year. Place your bulk trash at the curbside by 5:30 AM on your bulk collection scheduled day.
Place your bulk trash into three separate piles. Pile number one should contain metal items, including home appliances; the second pile should contain passenger car tires, and the last one should contain non-metal items such as carpeting and wooden furniture. Place bulk piles by 5:30 AM on your scheduled collection day.
Do not put items into boxes and cartons to place them at the curb. Place your bulk pile in an obstacle-free area. Also, do not pile your bulk trash in an alley or on personal property because the collection crew will not collect your bulk trash from personal property. Moreover, Austin Resource Recovery will collect only residential bulk trash. Click the link below to know your bulk collection day.
Brush Collections
Brush will also be collected twice a year. You can identify your collection day from the My Schedule app. Cut all branches to a length of 5 to 15 feet and tie them into bundles. Then place these bundles at the curbside for collection by 5:30 AM on your collection day. Put all leaves into compost bags to place them at the curb. Do not walk on sidewalks while placing your brush trash at the curb. If your collection day is far and you want to get rid of your yard trash, you can dispose of it at a drop-off site. Check drop-off site information from the link below.
Holidays Collection Schedule
Austin observes certain holidays that will affect your trash collection schedule. If residents observe these holidays on their normal trash collection day, then their normal collection will be delayed by one day. For example, if residents observe these holidays on a Monday, then Monday’s trash will be collected on Tuesday. Similarly, the delay in the normal collection will run throughout the week. At the end of the week, Friday’s carts will be collected on Saturday.
| Holidays | Date and Day | Change in Trash and Garbage Collection Schedule |
|---|---|---|
| New Year’s Day | January 1, 2024, Monday | No collection on Monday. Your trash cart will be collected on January 2, 2024, Tuesday. |
| Thanksgiving Day | November 28, 2024, Thursday | No collection on Thursday. Your trash cart will be collected on November 29, 2024, Friday. |
| Christmas Day | December 25, 2024, Wednesday | No collection on Wednesday. Your trash cart will be collected on December 26, 2024, Thursday. |
Austin will observe certain holidays that will postpone your trash collection day by one day. If residents observe these holidays on Monday, then trash collection will be delayed by one day. Your Monday’s trash will be collected on Tuesday. Similarly, Tuesday’s collection will also be delayed by one day. This delay in trash collection days will continue throughout the week. Despite these holidays, trash collection services in Austin generally run smoothly.
| Holidays | Date and Day | Change in Garbage and Recycling Collection Schedule |
|---|---|---|
| New Year’s Day | January 1, 2024, Monday | No trash collection on Monday. Your trash will be collected on January 2, 2024, Tuesday. |
| Thanksgiving Day | November 28, 2024, Thursday | No trash collection on Thursday. Your trash will be collected on November 29, 2024, Friday. |
| Christmas Day | December 25, 2024, Wednesday | No trash collection on Wednesday. Your trash will be collected on December 26, 2024, Thursday. |
