Denver Trash Pickup Schedule & Recycling Rules, Colorado

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Denver trash pickup: collection days, recycling and bulk waste rules.

The Denver trash pickup schedule comes from the city’s Solid Waste Management division, for homes and buildings of up to seven units. Trash and compost go weekly and recycling every other week, on the same day; recycling alternates A and B weeks, and Large Item Pickup reaches each of nine districts every nine weeks. Your day, letter and district come from your address. What trips people up: carts must be out by 6 a.m., and trucks do not return.

• Who collects: Denver Solid Waste, the Solid Waste Management division of the city’s Department of Transportation and Infrastructure, for single-family homes, row homes and buildings of up to seven units
• Your pickup day: depends on your address; Trash, Recycle, Compost: Collection Schedules ↗ or the free Denver Trash and Recycling app
• Holiday changes: six observed holidays push the rest of that week one day later; 2026 holiday list ↗
• Missed pickup: leave the cart out and call 311, or file a request in Denver Utilities Online ↗
• Contact: 311, or 720-913-1311 from outside Denver (TTY 720-913-8479); billing swmbillinginquiries@denvergov.org
• Official website: City and County of Denver: Trash, Recycle & Compost ↗

Photo: Skyline of Denver, Colorado. Quintin Soloviev, 2026-04-21. CC BY 4.0 · Source. Resized for web.

How the Denver pickup schedule works

All carts go out on one weekday set by your address. You pay for trash by cart size; recycling, compost and Large Item Pickup are included.

• Carts go out by 6 a.m., but no earlier than 7 p.m. the night before. Trucks do not return for late set-outs.
• The address lookup shows curb or alley service. Curb carts sit in the street against the curb, facing the street; alley carts stay 4 feet from fences, cars and other containers.
• Leave 2 feet on all sides, clear of garage overhangs and gutters, with lids closed. Overfilled or too-heavy carts are not emptied, and trash outside the cart is not collected.
• Bag all trash; never bag recycling.
• On street-sweeping days, use the driveway apron, the curb edge or the other side of the street.
• Bring carts back onto your property within a day; carts left in the alley or street may be removed.

Apartment and condo buildings of eight or more units and businesses hire a licensed hauler; from September 1, 2026, the Universal Recycling and Composting Ordinance requires those buildings to offer recycling and composting. Denver Housing Authority residents use shared dumpsters.

Denver recycling and Large Item Pickup calendar

Weeks run Sunday to Saturday on the city’s 2026 Recycle and LIP Calendar ↗. Recycling goes out in the weeks of your letter, A or B. Large Item Pickup comes in the week of your collection district, 1 to 9, shown on the calendar’s district map, in the lookup and in the app.

What goes in the Denver recycling cart

Recycling goes loose in the purple cart. The city’s Waste Directory ↗ checks single items; its rule is “when in doubt, throw it out.”

• Yes:
  • plastic bottles, tubs, jugs, jars, cups and clamshells labeled #1 to #6
  • plastic buckets up to 5 gallons
  • aluminum and steel cans
  • clean balled foil and foil trays
  • glass bottles and jars
  • flattened cardboard, cut to 2 by 2 feet
  • food boxes
  • milk and juice cartons
  • mail, office paper, magazines and newspaper
  • paper bags and paper coffee cups
• No:
  • plastic bags of any kind, Denver’s number one contaminant
  • film and bubble mailers
  • foam
  • chip bags and pouches
  • “compostable” packaging
  • plastic cutlery
  • coffee pods
  • hoses and holiday lights
  • shredded paper
  • paper towels and paper plates
  • wrapping paper
  • books
  • waxed cardboard
  • window glass and mirrors
  • ceramics and bakeware
  • light bulbs
  • scrap metal and hangers
  • propane tanks

Empty the containers; caps can stay on bottles, loose caps go in the trash; do not crush bottles or cans; anything smaller than your palm is too small. Recycle the clean part of a pizza box and trash the greasy part. Contaminated carts are not collected; a second recycling cart is free.

Yard waste and food scraps

Weekly compost is included in the trash fee but is not automatic: request a green cart through Denver Utilities Online. Use only paper yard-waste bags and CMA-approved compostable bags of 3 gallons or less.

• Yes:
  • all food scraps, including meat, bones, dairy and spoiled food
  • leaves, grass, flowers and weeds
  • brush and pine needles
• No:
  • plastic of any kind
  • compostable packaging
  • cardboard and other paper
  • grease and liquids
  • pet waste and diapers
  • clothing
  • glass and metal
  • dirt, sod and rocks
  • treated wood
  • trash

Bundle branches for Large Item Pickup or take them to the Cherry Creek drop-off. Stumps and bigger limbs are the owner’s job. LeafDrop opens seasonal leaf sites each fall (in 2026, three weekday sites from October 5 to November 25, plus weekend sites on November 7, 8, 14, 15, 21 and 22); otherwise extra leaves go to Cherry Creek. For Christmas trees, last season’s Treecycle ran December 29 to January 30 at Cherry Creek Transfer Station (7301 E. Jewell Ave.), Havana Nursery and Central Platte Campus (1271 W. Bayaud Ave.), plus Saturday sites, and turned trees into free mulch. Trees left for Large Item Pickup are not mulched.

Bulk trash pickup in Denver: Large Item Pickup

Large Item Pickup needs no appointment. It comes every nine weeks on your regular day, in your district’s week. Set out up to 5 large items plus 10 bags of trash, each bag 32 gallons and 50 pounds at most and never in cardboard boxes, by 6 a.m. and 2 feet from carts and cars. Items set out on any other day count as illegal dumping.

• Accepted:
  • furniture
  • large toys
  • non-electric bikes
  • rugs
  • exercise equipment
  • mattresses and box springs, bagged and wrapped
  • up to 10 tied branch bundles, each at most 4 feet long, 4 inches thick and 50 pounds
• Refused:
  • electronics
  • appliances
  • construction materials
  • auto parts
  • stumps, dirt and sod
  • paint
  • batteries
  • tires
  • commercial waste
  • loose trash

Between pickups, overflow trash is not collected; switch to a bigger cart. Appliances, including refrigerators, freezers and air conditioners, get a free pickup by appointment through 311. For more than the pickup takes, the city lists private sites that accept trash and mattresses for a fee: WM D&R Transfer Station and All Recycling North Transfer Station in the north, WM’s Denver Arapahoe Disposal Site landfill in the east, and WM South Metro Transfer Station and Waste Connections of Colorado’s Jordan Rd. Transfer Station in the south and southwest.

Denver holiday trash schedule

On six observed holidays, Solid Waste closes and collection from the holiday onward runs one day late for the rest of that week only. On working holidays, set carts out as usual.

Hazardous waste, electronics and drop-off sites

Household hazardous waste goes through the At-Your-Door program for residents of buildings of seven or fewer units: one pickup per calendar year, with a $15 co-payment. Book at 1-800-449-7587 or wmatyourdoor.com ↗. You get one kit bag that holds about 10 to 12 containers, and you need at least three different accepted materials or one over 25 pounds. Set the bag out by 7 a.m. It takes automotive fluids, batteries, cleaners, pesticides, pool chemicals, paint, thinners, fluorescent bulbs and mercury thermometers, but not asbestos, ammunition, explosives, medical waste or sharps.

Leftover paint goes free to PaintCare drop-sites at paint and hardware stores. Electronics are banned from Colorado landfills: the city’s E-cycle Coupon, one per household a year, gives a discounted rate at Blue Star Recyclers, 953 Decatur St., for TVs, computers, phones, small appliances and rechargeable batteries. Bring the code and proof of address.

• Cherry Creek Recycling and Compost Drop-off, 7400 Cherry Creek S. Dr., Denver, CO 80231, near S. Quebec St. and E. Cherry Creek South Dr. Tuesday to Friday 9 a.m. to noon and 1 to 4:30 p.m.; Saturday 8 a.m. to noon and 1 to 3 p.m.; closed Sundays, Mondays and city holidays. Free for Denver residents with proof of residency, two visits a day, residential vehicles only (no trailers or box trucks). Takes anything accepted in the purple and green carts, including branches up to 4 feet long and 4 inches thick. No trash, paint, hazardous waste, dirt or sod.

Fees and billing

Denver bills trash directly by cart size, quarterly. City code and the collection rules set these monthly fees; an address with no cart choice pays the small-cart fee.

Pay in Denver Utilities Online (autopay and paperless billing) or by check to City and County of Denver, P.O. Box 735644, Dallas, TX 75373; there are no phone payments. Unpaid fees can become a property lien. Billing questions go to swmbillinginquiries@denvergov.org or 303-446-3733; Customer Care and Billing is open Monday to Thursday 7:30 a.m. to 3:30 p.m. and Friday 7:30 a.m. to 1 p.m.

The DOTI affordability rebate covers 100% of the fee for households at or below 30% of area median income, 75% at or below 50%, and 50% at or below 60%, renewed every 12 months (DOTIrebates@denvergov.org). Moving out? Leave the carts and file the online Transfer of Service Form.

Missed pickup, damaged carts and new carts

1. Check the week: in a holiday week, collection from the holiday onward runs one day late.
2. Check the set-out: carts out by 6 a.m., 2 feet clear on all sides, lids closed, nothing blocking the truck.
3. Leave the cart out and report it: call 311 (720-913-1311), or file a request in Denver Utilities Online.

The same account orders repairs, size changes and a free second recycling cart; 311 can also swap a cart. Recycling questions: denvercartsmart@denvergov.org.

Set-out rules and fines

• Under city code section 48-47, illegal dumping citations run up to $150, then $500, then $999.
• Dumping over 50 pounds, 32 gallons or 2 cubic feet costs at least $500, $750 and then $999, plus cleanup.
• Trash in a recycling or compost cart can cost up to $999 per violation.
• Keep branches and wires over the alley or street 13 feet high so trucks can pass.

Materials with their own rules

• Paint: free at PaintCare stores, never at Large Item Pickup.
• Lithium-ion batteries: never in carts, where they start truck fires; use retail drop-offs on The Battery Network’s locator.
• Household hazardous waste: one $15 At-Your-Door pickup a year.
• Mattresses: bagged and wrapped, on Large Item Pickup day.
• Pizza boxes: clean part recycled, greasy part trashed; not in compost.
• Christmas trees: Treecycle sites for mulch, or Large Item Pickup.
• Tires: refused at Large Item Pickup.
• Aerosol cans and propane tanks: propane and other metal tanks are refused in the purple cart.
• Light bulbs: CFLs and fluorescent tubes never go in the trash or recycling; use a hardware store bin or the At-Your-Door hazardous waste pickup.
• Microwaves: not at Large Item Pickup; book the free appliance collection through 311.
• Refrigerators and freezers: the free appliance collection by appointment through 311; Xcel Energy customers can earn a $50 rebate.
• Fire extinguishers: never in a cart; a fire-equipment drop-off, or an emptied, headless shell to a scrap yard.
• Leaves: loose in the green compost cart, or in paper bags to a LeafDrop site; Cherry Creek also takes them loose.

More in Colorado

• Colorado trash and recycling rules
• Holiday changes by city
• Bulk pickup rules by city
• Missed pickup contacts by city
• Drop-off locations by city