San Jose is a big city covering an area of 466.1 km2, located in the middle of silicon valley and popular as a major technological hub in California. Area code of San Jose is 408/669. A beautiful city with more beauty seems to attract a large number of tourists every year.
Beauty of this city should be preserved and you have to play your significant role as a citizen of San Jose to keep the city environment clean and healthy. In order to contribute, you have to follow some rules and regulations to keep your area clean.
Utility services lookup
Because San Jose is a big city so there are many garbage and recycling companies operating, providing their significant distinguished service. If you are looking to know about your garbage and recycling provider company, so here is the information of waste management corporation that are operating in different areas of san jose city;
| Neighbourhood | Recycling collection, junk pickup,used motor oil & filter collection | Garbage | Yard trimmings & street sweepings |
| Downtown north, east, and south san jose | California waste solutions (408)213-7800 | Garden city sanitation(408)988-4500 | Green west recovery (408)283-4800 |
| West san jose | Green team of San Jose (408)282-4400 | ||
| Apartments & condos | Green team of San Jose (408)282-4400 | ||
If you want to know about your residential trash, yard trash and recycling pickup schedule, you simply have to visit the utility services lookup page for san jose city.
Once you open this page, the next step is quite simple as you have to add your street address into a white search box located at the right corner, then click on the company name that is operating in your area, and send street sweeping and waste collection requests.
San Jose Garbage Schedule
Garbage collection staff in San Jose will pick up your trash through automated trucks having mechanical arms of lifters with it. Once trucks are loaded with garbage, trucks bring this garbage to a material recovery facility. San Jose waste management authority will provide residential garbage pick up once a week.
Place all trash carts outside between 6 pm to 6 am of your designated trash pick-up day. Furthermore, place your carts in a way that their lid faces the front of Street and wheel against the curb. Place your trash cart at the distance of 5 meters from any thing that could cause disturbance in collections.
Do not overfill the carts, and place only closed lids carts outside in order to prevent litter. If you experience a situation in which your carts get stolen or lost accidentally, in this situation you can report it. Click ok the following link to report stolen or lost cart:
Recycling Schedule in San Jose
Environmental services of San Jose continue to provide recycling pickup service to their customers along with typical trash pick-up. You can find your recycling schedule by following the same method that you follow to get a normal trash pick-up schedule through the utility services pickup Page.
There are some rules and regulations that you must follow when putting your recyclable items into recycling carts. Place recyclable material outside between 6pm to 6am on your scheduled day. Place all materials properly onto a recycling cart such as cardboards, papers , glass jars and Bottles. Before putting all these items, make sure that these are clear, empty, and dry.
Do not put any plastic bag into recycling trash because it may disrupt the recycling process at the recycling center. Moreover if you are having more trash that cannot be fitt into a recycling bin at once, then save all extra material for the next collection week.
Recycle and garbage rates and billings
It is mandatory to pay recycling and garbage monthly fees whether you are living on rent or own a property. The rates of recycling and trash collections are different, ranging from 51.40$ to 258.95$ depend upon the weight of trash and size of carts. Click on the following link if you want to know about your monthly recycling and garbage fee;
Missed pickup
If you believe that your trash materials are not picked up by the 6pm of your collection scheduled day, you can report it. In order to report missed pickup of your trash, fill the online report form. Similarly you can call at (408)535-3500 to report missed collections.
And if you place your garbage and recyclable material after collection, this material will be picked up on your next collection day, so be careful about time while placing your trash carts outside for collection.
Trash Holidays in San Jose
Trash collection will remain the same for all holidays except thanksgiving day, christmas and new year. And if you experience these holidays in your area, your collection will be shifted by one day.
| Holidays | Dates and day | Change in collection schedule |
| New year day | January, 1st 2024 (Monday) | Trash will be collected on Tuesday 2nd of January 2024 |
| Thanksgiving day | November, 28 2024 (Thursday) | Trash will be collected on Friday 29th of november 2024 |
| Christmas | December, 25 2024 (Wednesday) | Trash collection will be done on Thursday 26 December 2024 |
Yard trimmings pick-up
Place your yard trimmings before 6AM of your scheduled day, do not place any trash outside earlier than your scheduled day. If you are having too much yard trimmings and they could not fit into the trimming cart, place all remaining trimmings freely in the streets.
Furthermore the size of piles of trimmings such as leaves or branches should not exceed 5 by 5 feet in diameter and length. Sometimes it may happen that loose collection become not possible in your street, in this case the waste management authority will notify you with alternative collection methods.
Weight limits
Overweight containers will not be picked up by trash collectors, so do not cross the limit or weight provided by the city of San Jose municipal code.
| Container | Weight (in pounds) |
| 32 gallon cart | 100 |
| 64 gallon cart | 175 |
| 96 gallon cart | 250 |
| Extra garbage bags | 60 |
In case of having extra garbage, place all trash material into a 32 gallon extra garbage bag labeled with garbage stickers that you can purchase from San Jose libraries, Lucky, Safeway stores or from the cashier window for only 6.25 dollars.
Apartments and condos collection schedule
The process of garbage collection from apartments and condos is similar to traditional trash pick-up. Similar to typing trash set out you have to place all trash material outside before 6am of your collection day.
If you are living in an apartment you have to put all trash into the right bins such as traditional waste into green bins and recycling waste into white and blue. Put your trash at a place that is accessible for trash trucks and do not block the bin with your vehicle, bulk material and any other oversized material. Garbage and recycling collection rates will be added into your monthly utility bills.
Junks pickup
If you are having with a lot of junk material ant want to get rid of it, San Jose will provide Three options to get rid of this type of stuff;
- Firstly you can check the list of acceptable junk items and if your junk items are in good condition you can donate them to family, friends and neighbors.
- But if junk items you are having with are not in good condition, these are Damaged then you should visit 311.sanjoseCA.gov to make a request for free junk pickup.
- If you recieve junk pickup appointment confirmation then St out all trash material you are having with outside according to the instructions that are provided to you through confirmation email.
