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Glendora trash pickup is done by Athens Services under an exclusive franchise with the city. Every single-family home gets three 96-gallon carts, black for trash, blue for recycling and green for organics, all emptied once a week. Find your day on the Athens collection day map for Glendora. The rule that trips people up most: bulky items and electronics go only by appointment, and a cart holding them can be skipped.

Glendora with the San Gabriel Mountains behind it, seen from the South Hills

Photo: Glendora with the San Gabriel Mountains behind it, seen from the South Hills. Jaymanuel, 2017-02-25. CC BY-SA 4.0 · Source. Resized for web.

Glendora trash and recycling pickup schedule

The City of Glendora does not run its own trucks. It contracts Arakelian Enterprises, Inc., doing business as Athens Services, through a franchise agreement that Athens has held since 1992. The city’s Public Works Department administers it; Athens answers the phone, delivers the carts and bills you.

Since December 12, 2022, single-family homes have automated cart service with three 96-gallon carts; the old customer-owned cans are no longer emptied. The standard level of service is the same for every home:

Cart Color and size How often Cost
Trash Black, 96 gallons Once a week Included in the $52.71 monthly rate
Recycling Blue, 96 gallons Once a week Included
Organics (yard waste and food scraps) Green, 96 gallons Once a week Included
Bulky items and electronics No cart; curbside by appointment On your collection day, after you schedule Free for single-family homes
  • Put the carts out the night before or by 6 a.m. on your collection day.
  • Your day depends on your street. Athens publishes a collection day map for Glendora ↗; if you are unsure, call the Glendora line at 877-317-1441.
  • You can swap any cart for a 64-gallon or 35-gallon size at no change in price, because the rate is set on average volume, not cart size. A fourth cart costs $7.12 a month and a fifth or later cart $11.39.
  • Some streets are hard-to-service areas, where Athens wrote to residents in 2022 that carts might need a new spot, a different day or hand-tossed collection. No letter means the normal program. Questions go to Athens at 888-336-6100 or the city’s Environmental Services liaison at 626-914-8249.
  • Residents who cannot roll their carts to the curb get free roll-out service with a disabled parking placard or a doctor’s note; the Athens FAQ adds that no able-bodied person may live in the home. Others can pay $37.08 a month for roll-out of three carts.
  • To start or stop service when you move, call Athens at 888-336-6100.

Apartment buildings and businesses are Athens customers too, with bins priced by size and pickups a week; the city’s May 2026 Prop 218 notice, linked under Fees and billing, proposed three separate containers for every one of them under SB 1383.

What goes in the Glendora recycling cart

Athens lists what the blue cart takes on its Glendora page. Everything must be empty of food and liquid and go in loose, never bagged, because plastic bags tangle the sorting machines. For a single item, use the Athens What Goes Where guide ↗.

  • Yes: plastic bottles, jugs, clamshells and food containers marked #1, #2 or #5; clean, dry paper with no metal or lamination, such as magazines, mail, office paper, newspaper, paper bags and phone books; broken-down cardboard and clean pizza boxes; glass bottles and jars with the lids off; aluminum cans, foil and trays, scrap metal, steel and tin cans.
  • Accepted, but Athens says they may not be recycled right now: cereal boxes with the bag removed, egg cartons, frozen-food boxes, and soup, milk and juice cartons.
  • No (black trash cart): plastics #3 and #6, hard or foam; every black plastic; bubble wrap, plastic bags and film; garden hoses, tarps, plastic toys, empty motor-oil containers, utensils, straws and other small plastics; chip bags, juice pouches, paper coffee cups, snack wrappers and compostable “plant-based plastic”; tissues, padded envelopes, coated paper, napkins, photographs and receipts; ceramic, porcelain and non-food glass; unusable clothing, diapers, pet waste, cacti, succulents, palm fronds and hard shells such as clams and oysters.
  • Putting the wrong things in a cart is contamination. The city says a contaminated cart can be charged a fee or left unemptied.

Yard waste and food scraps

The green organics cart takes yard trimmings and, under SB 1383, all food scraps and food-soiled paper. Athens composts the contents at its American Organics facility in Victorville.

  • Green waste: branches, flowers, grass clippings, hedge trimmings, leaves, weeds, and untreated, unpainted lumber, plywood and scrap wood.
  • Food scraps: fruit, vegetables, bread, rice, pasta, cheese and dairy, coffee grounds and filters, meat, bones, poultry, seafood, and soft shells from lobster, crab and shrimp.
  • Food-soiled paper: only 100 percent plant-fiber items with no plastic, wax or bioplastic coating, such as paper napkins and towels, paper plates, paper egg cartons, fiber take-out containers and pizza boxes.
  • Bags: liners are optional. A clear or translucent-green plastic or “compostable” bag is allowed if the contents are visible; Athens rips the bags open and throws them away. Ziploc-style bags are not allowed.
  • Not in the green cart: cacti and succulents, palm fronds, yucca leaves, pet waste and hard shells. They go in the black cart.
  • Compost bins: the city sells backyard compost bins to residents at a subsidized price listed on the Athens rate schedule; order at 877-317-1441.
  • Christmas trees: Athens collects trees on your regular pickup day from the day after Christmas through the second week of January. Remove the stand, ornaments, lights and tinsel, cut a tree over 6 feet in half and set it beside your carts; flocked trees are not taken. After the window, cut the tree up for the green cart. Each winter’s dates are on the Athens Holiday Tree Recycling page ↗.

Bulk trash pickup in Glendora

Single-family homes get free, unlimited bulky item collection, but only by appointment. Athens picks up on your regular collection day; ask at least 24 hours ahead through the Bulky Item Request form ↗ or at 855-557-1007. Athens answers within one business day and asks you not to put anything out until it confirms. Items set out without a request are not collected, and bulky items stuffed into a cart can interrupt your service.

  • Taken: furniture, including sofas, mattresses and rugs; appliances such as refrigerators, ranges, washers, dryers, water heaters and dishwashers; plumbing fixtures; small appliances; and brush tied into bundles no longer than 4 feet and no heavier than 35 pounds.
  • Not taken: car bodies and parts; construction debris such as dirt, concrete, tile, drywall and rock; loose lumber; hazardous waste, including antifreeze, cleaners, gas cylinders, pesticides, paint, medicines, pool chemicals and solvents; anything over 60 pounds or larger than 4 by 8 feet; and extra bags of trash.
  • Electronic waste has its own free curbside pickup: TVs, computers, phones and other electronics are collected on trash day when you schedule a day ahead at 888-336-6100.
  • For remodeling debris, Athens rents temporary containers through its Rent-a-Container page ↗.

Glendora holiday trash schedule

Athens observes six holidays in Glendora: New Year’s Day, Memorial Day, Independence Day, Labor Day, Thanksgiving and Christmas Day. When one falls on a weekday, collection from that day through the end of the week runs one day late, so Friday routes are picked up on Saturday. A holiday on a Saturday or Sunday changes nothing. Street sweeping stops on national holidays and rainy days.

Holiday Date What changes
Thanksgiving Thursday, November 26, 2026 Thursday routes move to Friday, Friday routes to Saturday
Christmas Day Friday, December 25, 2026 Friday routes move to Saturday
New Year’s Day Friday, January 1, 2027 Friday routes move to Saturday
Memorial Day Monday, May 31, 2027 Every route that week runs one day late
Independence Day Sunday, July 4, 2027 No change: the holiday falls on a weekend
Labor Day Monday, September 6, 2027 Every route that week runs one day late

Every other date, Veterans Day included, keeps the regular schedule.

Hazardous waste, electronics and drop-off sites

Household hazardous waste never goes in any Glendora cart; a cart with paint, chemicals, motor oil or batteries in it is tagged and left. Glendora has no drop-off site of its own. Residents use the Los Angeles County program, the City of Los Angeles S.A.F.E. Centers and a few take-back points in town.

  • Household hazardous waste roundups. Los Angeles County Public Works and the Sanitation Districts run free one-day, drive-through events for any county resident, most on Saturdays from 9 a.m. to 3 p.m., no appointment, up to 15 gallons or 125 pounds per trip. Pack items in boxes in the trunk, keep them in their original containers, and stay in the car while staff unload. They take paint, solvents, cleaners, pesticides, pool chemicals, motor oil, antifreeze, batteries, fluorescent bulbs, medicines, sealed sharps and electronics, and refuse business waste, explosives, ammunition, flares, radioactive material, tires, trash and appliances. Dates are on the CleanLA events calendar ↗ or at 1-888-CLEAN-LA.
  • Los Angeles-Glendale S.A.F.E. Center, 4600 Colorado Boulevard, Los Angeles, CA 90039, the closest permanent site the city names. Saturdays only, 9 a.m. to 3 p.m., closed December 24 to January 3. Free for Los Angeles County residents with a state-issued photo ID for the plant’s security gate; staff ask where the waste came from. Up to 15 gallons or 125 pounds per visit; no business waste. The other S.A.F.E. Centers, open Saturdays and Sundays, are on the LA Sanitation S.A.F.E. Centers page ↗.
  • Athens annual event. Under the franchise, Athens hosts one free household hazardous waste event a year for Glendora’s single-family customers, listed on its Glendora page.
  • Electronics. Besides the free curbside pickup from Athens, e-waste is taken at every roundup and S.A.F.E. Center, and the city points to the Goodwill stores at 526 W. Foothill Boulevard and 1936 E. Route 66.
  • Paint. Three Glendora stores take leftover paint, stain and varnish free through PaintCare: Dunn-Edwards, 630 S. Grand Avenue, 626-335-7900, up to 20 gallons a visit; Sherwin-Williams, 651 S. Grand Avenue, 626-335-7671, up to 20 gallons; Mission Ace Hardware, 531 S. Glendora Avenue, 626-914-7980, up to 5 gallons. Call ahead, bring the original labeled container, no aerosols. Dried-out paint can go in the black cart.
  • Batteries, AA to D cells and lithium-ion alike, are hazardous waste: a roundup, a S.A.F.E. Center, a participating electronics or phone retailer, or a Los Angeles County Library battery site.
  • Medicines and sharps are taken at any roundup. Residents can get a free sharps container from Athens at 888-336-6100 and mail it back postage-paid when full. For medicines the city points to the DEA’s take-back site finder.
  • Motor oil, antifreeze and tires. Used oil goes to a roundup, a S.A.F.E. Center or a CalRecycle certified collection center ↗; antifreeze only to a roundup or a S.A.F.E. Center. Roundups refuse tires: Los Angeles County lists tire recycling facilities ↗, usually for a small fee, and holds free tire recycling events ↗.

The city’s residential page still lists the Puente Hills Materials Recovery Facility Recycle Center as an e-waste drop-off; the Sanitation Districts closed it on July 30, 2022.

Fees and billing

Athens bills Glendora residents directly, and the rate is the same whatever cart sizes you choose. The standard single-family service, one trash, one recycling and one organics cart, costs $52.71 a month from July 1, 2026: the 5 percent annual adjustment under the franchise agreement, up from $50.20, which Athens mailed to customers on June 1, 2026. The city’s Prop 218 FAQ gives the same figure and notes that an 11 percent city franchise fee is already inside it.

Charge Rate
Standard three-cart residential service $52.71 a month
Fourth cart, any color or size $7.12 a month
Fifth cart and above, each $11.39 a month
Roll-out service, up to three carts $37.08 a month; $14.23 for each cart above three
Return trip after a missed set-out (go-back) $42.34
Bear-resistant cart, 65 or 96 gallons $334.39 or $414.65 once, or monthly installments over 36 months
  • Senior discount. The city’s Senior Citizen Solid Waste Discount Program takes 10 percent off the monthly residential rate for up to 250 households. Send the application ↗ to the Public Works Department, 116 E. Foothill Boulevard, 626-914-8246; once approved, the discount appears on your Athens account.
  • Paying. Athens takes payments online, by mail, by phone and in person at its Irwindale office, 5355 Vincent Avenue, Monday to Friday 8 a.m. to 5 p.m. Billing questions go to 888-336-6100.
  • What comes next. On July 14, 2026 the City Council held a Proposition 218 hearing on five-year maximum rates for July 15, 2026 through July 14, 2031: rates may rise each July 1 by the trash-collection consumer price index plus 1 percent, the next residential change would come July 1, 2027, and commercial and multi-family accounts would pay a $23.05 supplemental fee each year and move to three containers. The notice ↗, the rate sheets ↗ and the FAQ ↗ are on the city’s site.

The five-year rate plan and the three-container rule for businesses and apartments are covered in Glendora trash rate increase 2026 and a 3-container rule.

Missed pickup, damaged carts and new carts

Report a missed pickup to Athens at 888-336-6100 or cs@athensservices.com, or use the Request Services form ↗. The franchise agreement requires Athens to log every complaint and send the city a monthly report. If a cart was out late, the return trip is a $42.34 go-back charge, so have the carts out by 6 a.m.

Extra, replacement or different-size carts, and start or stop of service, all go through Athens at 888-336-6100, which also takes graffiti and street-sweeping reports. The city’s Environmental Services liaison, 626-914-8249, handles problems Athens does not resolve.

Set-out rules and contamination fees

  • Carts out the night before or by 6 a.m. on collection day.
  • Bulky items, construction debris, electronics, hazardous waste, hot coals and ash, and dead animals never go in the black cart.
  • Recycling loose in the blue cart, no bags. Organics in the green cart, with only clear or translucent-green liners.
  • Contaminated carts can be charged a fee or left unemptied.
  • Bulky items and electronics go out only after Athens confirms your appointment.
  • Athens sweeps every municipal street once a week in the early morning, and the city restricts parking on sweeping days. Keep carts and cars out of the sweeper’s path and alleys clear for trucks.
  • Report illegal dumping to the Glendora Police Department.

Materials with their own rules

  • Household hazardous waste: a county roundup or the Los Angeles-Glendale S.A.F.E. Center, never a cart.
  • Paint: free at Dunn-Edwards, Sherwin-Williams or Mission Ace Hardware in Glendora, or a roundup.
  • Lithium-ion batteries: a roundup, a S.A.F.E. Center or a retailer take-back.
  • Mattresses: a free bulky item pickup scheduled with Athens.
  • Pizza boxes: clean in the blue cart, greasy in the green cart.
  • Christmas trees: beside the carts from December 26 through the second week of January.
  • Tires: a county tire facility or a free county tire event, not a roundup or the bulky pickup.
  • Aerosol cans and propane tanks: a roundup or a S.A.F.E. Center; the bulky pickup refuses cylinders full or empty.

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