Philadelphia Department of Sanitation: reviews, rating and service info
The Philadelphia Department of Sanitation collects trash and recycling weekly from properties of six units or fewer.
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Municipal departmentOfficial websitePublic phone: 311Schedule lookupMissed pickup
The City of Philadelphia’s Department of Sanitation runs weekly trash and single-stream recycling for more than 510,000 households. It also disposes of bulk items, abandoned tires and household hazardous waste and cleans illegal dumping sites. Some neighborhoods get a second, trash-only day. Look up your day on phila.gov; 311 takes all service requests.
Serves: Philadelphia, Pennsylvania; see the Philadelphia trash pickup schedule for pickup days, holidays, bulk rules and drop-off sites.
What they collect and how often
Trash and recycling are collected once a week. A second, trash-only pickup runs in Phase I, since December 2, 2024, from Callowhill Street to Pattison Avenue, and in Phase II, since January 5, 2026, in two North Philadelphia areas from Vine Street to Hunting Park and Glenwood avenues. City holiday weeks have no second pickup.
Find your collection day
Enter your address in Find your trash and recycling collection day on phila.gov. Crews collect throughout the day; StreetSmartPHL shows today’s trucks under PickupPHL.
Set-out rules
Trash goes in metal or non-corrodible cans up to 32 gallons with tight lids, or in sealed 30- to 32-gallon bags, none over 40 pounds. Weekly limits: 4 cans or 8 bags for a one-unit property; 6 cans or 12 bags for two to six units or a building with a business. Two bags count as one can. Recycling has no limit and goes loose, never bagged or boxed, in the City bin or a labeled container up to 32 gallons.
Set out from 7 p.m. the night before until 7 a.m. from April through September, and from 5 p.m. from October through March. Center City (Vine to Bainbridge Street, river to river) uses 8 p.m. to 6 a.m. in April through September and 6 p.m. to 6 a.m. in October through March.
Holidays
There is no collection on City holidays, and the rest of that week runs one day behind. Still ahead: Columbus Day/Indigenous Peoples’ Day, Monday, October 12, 2026; Veterans Day, Wednesday, November 11; Thanksgiving, Thursday, November 26, and the Friday after; Christmas Day, Friday, December 25; and New Year’s Day, Friday, January 1, 2027.
Bulk, brush and special items
Up to two large items a collection day can go out with trash: a sofa, wooden-frame furniture, or a mattress or box spring sealed in plastic. Toilets and fiberglass bathtubs go with trash too. An unwrapped mattress is not collected and can bring a fine.
Appliances with doors removed, metal-frame furniture, large toys, flat-screen TVs, metal bathtubs and up to 4 rimless passenger tires need a Bulk Collection Program appointment, for up to six units: 4 items per appointment, one a week per household, booked up to a month ahead. It refuses mattresses, toilets, household trash, auto parts, construction and demolition debris and hazardous or flammable materials.
Hazardous waste, electronics and drop-off
Household hazardous waste is never collected at the curb. Seasonal drop-off events, 9 a.m. to 3 p.m. with no registration, serve residents of Bucks, Chester, Delaware, Montgomery and Philadelphia counties; businesses must use a private service. Two remain in 2026: Saturday, October 10, at 3033 S. 63rd St., and Saturday, November 7, at 3901 N. Delaware Ave.
Six sanitation convenience centers open Monday to Saturday, 8 a.m. to 6 p.m., except City holidays, with proof of residency. They take trash, recyclables, yard waste in paper bags, Christmas trees, electronics, tires, bulk items, hardened latex paint, unwrapped mattresses, fluorescent bulbs and batteries, and hand out free recycling bins.
Missed pickup and contacts
After 7 p.m. on your collection day, report a missed pickup: call 311 (215-686-8686 from outside Philadelphia) or use the online form. The leadership team, under Commissioner Crystal Jacobs Shipman, is at sanitation@phila.gov.
What this is not
City collection does not serve buildings of more than six units, gas and service stations, body and auto repair shops, manufacturers, wholesalers or properties with private collection. Small commercial establishments and multi-unit properties that choose City collection pay the Commercial Trash Fee, $500 a year; owner-occupied duplexes are exempt.
On Trashbagging
Philadelphia trash pickup schedule and Pennsylvania (state hub). Guides: mattresses, household hazardous waste, tires, paint, lithium-ion batteries, Christmas trees.
Context photo: Center City Philadelphia skyline seen across the Delaware River. Famartin, 2025-04-12. CC BY-SA 4.0 · Source. Resized for web.
- Legal name
- City of Philadelphia Department of Sanitation
- Operating status
- Active
- Public email
- sanitation@phila.gov
- Headquarters
- Philadelphia, Pennsylvania
- Assignment model
- Municipal service
- Service summary
- Trash and single-stream recycling once a week for properties of six units or fewer; some neighborhoods get a second, trash-only day. Up to two large items go out with trash, others by Bulk Collection Program appointment. Household hazardous waste goes to drop-off events, never the curb.
- Waste streams
- Trash; single-stream recycling; bulk items (with trash or by appointment); household hazardous waste (drop-off events)
- Property eligibility
- Inhabited properties that are separate tax parcels with six units or fewer, qualifying stores or offices in those buildings, and condos or co-ops that apply and qualify. Buildings of more than six units, gas and service stations, body and auto repair shops, manufacturers, wholesalers and properties with existing private collection are not served.
- Office hours
- Contact 311 for all service requests. Office hours are not collection hours.
- Holiday schedule
- www.phila.gov/city-holidays-and-closures/
- Primary source
- www.phila.gov/departments/department-of-sanitation/trash-and-recycling/
- Last verified
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Sources
- Department of Sanitation: services, households served.
- Trash and recycling: eligibility, twice-a-week trash.
- Residential trash and recycling rules: containers, limits, set-out times.
- Find your trash and recycling collection day and StreetSmartPHL: lookup, trucks.
- City holidays and closures: holidays.
- Report missed trash or recycling pickup: missed pickups.
- Bulky household items and Bulk Collection Program: bulk rules, appointments.
- Dispose of household hazardous waste: drop-off events.
- Sanitation convenience centers: hours, items.
- Get a recycling bin: free bins.
- Commercial Trash Fee and duplex exemption: fee.
- Contact and Leadership: 311, commissioner, email.
Questions
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Is Philadelphia trash collected on City holidays?
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