Chicago Department of Streets and Sanitation: reviews, rating and service info
Chicago DSS collects garbage and Blue Cart recycling for homes and buildings with four units or fewer.
Readers' ratingNo reviews yet.
Municipal departmentOfficial websitePublic phone: 311Schedule lookup
The Chicago Department of Streets and Sanitation (DSS) collects garbage weekly from about 600,000 households in buildings of four units or fewer. Blue Cart recycling comes every other week, from DSS crews in zones 2 and 4 and the city’s contractor LRS elsewhere. Look up your schedule in Recycle Coach on the Chicago Recycles site, or call 311.
Serves: Chicago, Illinois.
What they collect and how often
- Garbage: weekly, in the free 96-gallon black cart.
- Recycling: every other week, loose in the blue cart; no plastic bags or soft plastics.
- Yard waste: bagged, collected on request through 311.
Find your collection day
Chicago Recycles on chicago.gov carries the Recycle Coach lookup: enter the address for garbage and recycling dates and reminders, which also flag holiday changes. The Blue Cart map and 2026 schedule show your zone and pick-up weeks.
Set-out rules
Put carts in the alley or at the curb the night before: recycling trucks can come as early as 7 a.m., and crews will not enter private property or reach carts behind gates or parked cars. With alley service, leave the blue cart out for the whole highlighted week; with curbside service, set it out on your garbage day that week. Missing or damaged black carts are replaced free through 311.
Holidays
The 2026 list has 11 holidays with no garbage service citywide and no recycling in zones 2 and 4; still ahead are Columbus Day (October 12), Veterans Day (November 11), Thanksgiving and Christmas. Zones 1, 3, 5 and 6 skip recycling only on New Year’s Day, Memorial Day, Labor Day, Thanksgiving and Christmas. The exact service day may vary in a holiday week, so keep carts reachable all week.
Bulk, brush and special items
There is no fixed bulk day: before setting out a large item or an extra load, arrange a bulk pickup with your ward’s Streets and Sanitation superintendent through the district sanitation office or 311. Remove doors or lids from refrigerators and freezers. Leaves, grass, branches, brush and garden waste are collected on request: bag them apart from both carts and leave them in the alley or at the curb. Dirt, rocks and gravel are not yard waste.
Hazardous waste, electronics and drop-off
The Household Chemicals and Computer Recycling Facility, 1150 N. North Branch Street, is open Tuesday 7 a.m. to noon, Thursday 2 to 7 p.m. and the first Saturday 8 a.m. to 3 p.m. It takes chemicals, oil-based paint, rechargeable and car batteries, fluorescent bulbs, computers and TVs, but not latex paint, alkaline batteries, appliances or tires. Dry latex paint and throw it away. Recycling drop-off centers at 6441 N. Ravenswood and 1758 S. Clark Street are open daily in daylight.
Missed pickup and contacts
Report a missed pickup, request yard waste pickup or replace a cart through CHI 311, by phone at 311 or online. The Blue Cart recycling team answers at 312-744-2413.
What this is not
Buildings with more than four units are not on city collection; ask the owner or manager. An LRS truck in zones 1, 3, 5 or 6 is the city’s recycling contractor, not a private subscription.
On Trashbagging
Chicago trash pickup and city rules and Illinois (state hub). Guides: paint, lithium-ion batteries, household hazardous waste, mattresses, pizza boxes.
Context photo: Chicago skyline at dusk viewed from Willis Tower. Jesse Collins, 2016-02-08. CC BY 3.0 · Source. Resized for web.
- Legal name
- City of Chicago Department of Streets and Sanitation
- Operating status
- Active
- Headquarters
- Chicago, Illinois
- Assignment model
- Municipal service
- Service summary
- Municipal garbage for 4 units or fewer. Recycling service areas 1-6 do not share one holiday calendar.
- Waste streams
- Garbage; Blue Cart recycling
- Property eligibility
- Single-family homes and buildings with 4 units or fewer on city collection.
- Holiday schedule
- www.chicago.gov/city/en/depts/streets/provdrs/streets_san/svcs/non-scheduled_garbage.html
- Primary source
- www.chicago.gov/city/en/depts/streets/supp_info/residential_garbage.html
- Last verified
Reviews
No reviews yet.
Write a review
Your review of Chicago Department of Streets and Sanitation
Sources
- Residential Garbage: weekly service, eligibility.
- Holiday Garbage Schedule: 2026 holidays by zone.
- Residential Recycling: set-out, zones, drop-off centers.
- Chicago Recycles: Recycle Coach, every-other-week service.
- Blue Cart 2026 schedule: alley and curbside rules.
- Yard Waste Collection: yard waste on request.
- Sanitation Code Violation: bulk pickup through the ward superintendent.
- Division and Sanitation Offices: ward sanitation offices.
- Black Garbage Carts: carts.
- HCCRF: hazardous waste drop-off.
Questions
Who collects garbage in Chicago?
Does the city collect from larger apartment buildings?
Does Chicago recycling follow the garbage holiday schedule?
How often is Blue Cart recycling picked up in Chicago?
How do I report a missed garbage pickup in Chicago?
Sources and corrections. Each listing links the organization’s official website and its primary source page, with the date we last verified them; contacts and rules are copied from those pages, not from a brand’s advertising. Add a Service if an organization is missing, or Suggest an Edit if a listing is wrong. Submissions are reviewed against the official source before anything is published.