Miami-Dade Department of Solid Waste Management: reviews, rating and service info

The Miami-Dade County Department of Solid Waste Management picks up household garbage two days a week and recycling every other week in unincorporated Miami-Dade and ten cities. It also books bulky waste pickups and runs 13 Trash and Recycling Centers and two Home Chemical Collection Centers. Your pickup days come from the county’s address lookup or from 311.

Serves: Miami-Dade County, Florida.

What they collect and how often

Garbage goes in the green cart two days a week, Monday and Thursday or Tuesday and Friday. The standard cart is 96 gallons; 311 can swap it for a 35- or 65-gallon cart. Recycling goes loose in the blue cart every two weeks: paper, flattened cardboard including pizza boxes, cans, cartons, and plastic and glass bottles, tubs and jugs.

Find your collection day

Enter the address in the county’s Garbage and Recycling Pickup Days lookup and open the Garbage & Recycling tab for the garbage days and the recycling day, or call 311. Recycling Alerts send a reminder before each recycling day. The free MDC Solid Waste app texts one the evening before recycling day and books bulky pickups.

Set-out rules

Carts go out by 7 a.m., within 3 feet of the street, wheels toward the house, at least 5 feet from mailboxes, cars and the other cart. The lid must close; anything sticking out, stacked on top or left beside the cart stays behind. Keep plastic bags out of the blue cart.

Holidays

There is no garbage pickup on Martin Luther King Jr. Day, Independence Day or Christmas Day as the county observes them. Pickup resumes on your next regular day. Waste is collected on all other county holidays, so Columbus Day, Veterans Day, Thanksgiving and the Friday after are regular days in 2026. On Christmas Day, Friday, December 25, 2026, there is no garbage pickup, and Friday recycling routes due that day go on Saturday, December 26. The drop-off centers close on the same three days.

Bulky, brush and special items

Each household gets two bulky pickups a calendar year of up to 25 cubic yards each; a pile over 25 cubic yards uses up the next pickup too. Book online, in the app or through 311 first. Set the pile out no more than three days early and by 7 a.m., within 10 feet of the street. Mattresses must be sealed in plastic. Electronics, tires, chemicals, oil-based paint and items over 150 pounds are refused.

Hazardous waste, electronics and drop-off

The 13 Neighborhood Trash and Recycling Centers open daily from 7 a.m. to 5:30 p.m. for household trash, yard cuttings and up to 3 cubic yards of construction debris a day; some also take tires, appliances, motor oil and electronics. Only county waste-fee customers may use them. The two Home Chemical Collection Centers, in Doral and Homestead, open Wednesday to Sunday from 9 a.m. to 5 p.m. for paint, pesticides, pool chemicals, electronics, unbroken fluorescent bulbs and propane tanks other than RV, forklift and fixed kitchen tanks.

Missed pickup and contacts

Report a missed pickup online or through 311; a missed recycling pickup must be reported within three business days. Call 311 or 305-468-5900, Monday to Friday 7 a.m. to 7 p.m. and Saturday 8 a.m. to 5 p.m., TTY 711, or email dswm@miamidade.gov.

What this is not

The City of Miami, Coral Gables, Hialeah, Homestead, Miami Beach, North Miami and other cities run their own garbage service. Nine of them, including Miami Beach and South Miami, still get county curbside recycling, so the two carts can answer to different governments.

On Trashbagging

• Miami-Dade County trash pickup and county rules and the Florida hub.
• Guides: paint, household hazardous waste, lithium-ion batteries, mattresses, pizza boxes.

Context photo: Miami skyline in Miami-Dade County, Florida. Wilfredor, 2025-04-18. CC0 · Source. Resized for web.