States & Cities › Florida › Jacksonville

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

Jacksonville trash pickup is run by the City of Jacksonville Solid Waste Division, with city crews in one service area and contracted haulers Meridian Waste and Waste Pro in the rest. Garbage and yard waste go weekly, and the yellow-lid recycling cart every other week. Find your days with the city’s address lookup or the Jacksonville Waste and Recycle app. What trips people up: only Waste Pro areas get a garbage cart, and yard waste never goes in any cart.

Downtown Jacksonville skyline across the St. Johns River

Photo: Downtown Jacksonville skyline across the St. Johns River. DXR, 2016-07-06. CC BY-SA 4.0 · Source. Resized for web.

Jacksonville trash and recycling pickup schedule

The city’s Residential Properties map splits Jacksonville into four collection areas: the Solid Waste Division’s own Collection and Sanitary Services crews, Meridian Waste (MW1 and MW2) and Waste Pro USA (WP). Meridian Waste holds the Area II contract, which covers the Northside. The schedule lookup shows your hauler and each collection day for your address.

Stream Container How often
Garbage, Waste Pro area City-issued 96-gallon cart; 64-gallon cart on request after a 60-day trial Weekly
Garbage, city and Meridian areas Your own tied bags or cans with handles and lids, up to 45 gallons and under 40 pounds each Weekly
Recycling, all areas City-issued 96-gallon cart with a yellow lid Every other week
Yard waste Sealed bags or containers; limbs up to 5 feet; never in a city cart Weekly
Bulk items At the curb, 3 feet from carts Weekly with garbage in city and Meridian areas; every other week in the Waste Pro area
Tires, appliances, flat-panel TVs Curbside, by request only On the date the city assigns
  • Set everything out by 6 a.m. on collection day and no earlier than 5 p.m. the day before. Take empty containers back by 6 a.m. the day after.
  • Place items within 5 feet of the curb or pavement edge, visible, and 3 feet from cars, mailboxes, fire hydrants and utilities.
  • Carts go 3 feet from bulk items and the other cart, wheels facing away from the road, lids fully closed. Overflow outside a cart is not collected; save it for the next pickup.
  • Keep garbage, yard waste and recycling in separate piles, even when two of them share a day.
  • Customers with disabilities can ask for special accommodations; call 630-CITY to book a home visit.
  • Parcels with more than four residential structures are not eligible for city residential collection; apartment complexes, high-rise condos and mobile home parks are handled differently (904-255-7500). The city does not provide commercial dumpster service.
  • In the Downtown Area, garbage goes only in city-supplied cans, collection runs six times a week, and no garbage may sit at the curb between 9 a.m. and 2 p.m.

What goes in the Jacksonville recycling cart

Recycling goes loose in the yellow-lid cart: no plastic bags and no bagged recyclables. Labels can stay on, and nothing needs sorting. Empty and rinse each item, then shake it dry. The city’s rule is “when in doubt, throw it out”, and its Waste Wizard ↗ checks single items.

  • Paper: mail, office and school paper, newspapers, magazines, catalogs, phone books, paperback books, brown paper bags, fiberboard boxes, and corrugated cardboard flattened to 2 by 3 feet or smaller.
  • Plastics: containers numbered 1, 2, 3, 5 and 7, such as water and soda bottles, detergent bottles and cleaning solution bottles.
  • Cartons: milk and creamer cartons, juice boxes, soup and broth cartons.
  • Glass: green, brown or clear bottles and jars; put the lids in the garbage.
  • Metal: steel food cans, aluminum cans and aluminum baking pans.
  • No: any #4 plastic (cling wrap, sandwich bags, garbage and grocery bags), any #6 plastic (foam, disposable cups and bowls, take-out containers, packing peanuts, plastic cutlery, hangers, medicine bottles), unmarked plastics, shredded paper, batteries, aerosol cans, cables and wires, rubber, food and yard waste, needles, fireworks, flares, weapons, and colored glass other than brown and green.

Yard waste and Christmas trees

Yard waste is collected weekly. Set it out by 6 a.m., apart from the garbage, and never put it in a city-issued cart.

  • Taken: tree limbs, sticks, logs and stumps up to 5 feet long, under 6 inches across and under 40 pounds; leaves and grass clippings in sealed bags or containers; bush and shrub clippings; palm fronds.
  • Limit: 5 cubic yards a week, roughly 30 bags of 32 gallons or a standard pickup truck bed, with no bag or item over 40 pounds.
  • Refused: treated or painted wood such as fencing, railroad ties and landscape timbers, and plywood. These go with household garbage as bulk.
  • Debris from a tree surgeon or other hired contractor must leave with the contractor (Ordinance Code Sec. 380.206).

Natural Christmas trees and wreaths go out with yard waste once hangers, stands and all decorations are off.

Bulk trash pickup in Jacksonville

Bulk items go out on your bulk day: weekly with garbage in the city and Meridian areas, every other week in the Waste Pro area.

  • Bulk items: furniture, mattresses and box springs, rolled carpet and padding, fencing, plywood, treated or painted wood, and mirrors or other non-recyclable glass, wrapped and taped. Extra garbage is not bulk; hold it for the next garbage day.
  • Home project debris: up to 1 cubic yard a week on garbage day in the city and Meridian areas, or 2 cubic yards every other week on bulk day in the Waste Pro area. No piece over 5 feet or 40 pounds, and no friable asbestos. Work done by a contractor must be hauled off by the contractor (Sec. 380.207), and the city does not collect dumpster bags.
  • Appliances and tires: collected only by request, on MyJax or at 630-CITY. The request gets a pickup date; have the items out by 6 a.m. that day. Stand appliances upright with the doors removed or secured and the food cleaned out. Tire pickup is limited to four standard vehicle tires, with or without rims.
  • TVs: flat-panel TVs and computer monitors of any size can be booked for curbside pickup the same way. Tube (CRT) sets go out with regular garbage where garbage is collected by hand, or as bulk if they do not fit in a cart.

Jacksonville holiday trash schedule

Collection changes only for Thanksgiving Day and Christmas Day, even when city offices close for several days. Every other holiday runs on the regular schedule from 6 a.m.

Holiday Date Collection change
Thanksgiving Thursday, November 26, 2026 Thursday pickups move to Saturday, November 28. All other routes run as normal
Christmas Friday, December 25, 2026 Friday pickups move to Saturday, December 26. All other routes run as normal
New Year’s Day Friday, January 1, 2027 None; regular schedule

The Waste Wizard also prints a calendar for your address and sends service alerts by email or phone.

Hazardous waste, electronics and drop-off sites

Household hazardous waste is never collected at the curb, and putting it in any collection stream is unlawful (Sec. 380.209). Take it to the city’s facility or to a mobile collection event.

  • Household Hazardous Waste Facility, 2675 Commonwealth Avenue, Jacksonville, FL 32254; 904-387-8847. Tuesday to Saturday 8 a.m. to 5 p.m., closed Sunday and Monday. Free for Duval County residents. Non-residents and conditionally exempt small quantity generators pay $4.25 a gallon for flammable liquids and $1.25 plus a documentation fee for latex, by check or money order to the Tax Collector. It takes pesticides, pool and other chemicals, antifreeze, motor oil and oil filters, gas, kerosene, diesel and propane tanks, fireworks, flares, fire extinguishers and ammunition, paint, varnish and thinners, thermometers and thermostats, car and rechargeable batteries, fertilizer, aerosol cans and fluorescent bulbs, plus appliances and electronics. Limit: 27 gallons of paint and 27 gallons of motor oil per resident in 30 days.
  • Electronics: TVs and monitors (three CRTs and TVs per customer), computers and printers, stereos, radios, VCRs, DVD players, phones, power tools, and small kitchen and beauty appliances, from residents only. Electronics left at the curb go out with the garbage and are landfilled, not recycled.
  • Mobile collection events take household hazardous waste and electronics from 9 a.m. to 3 p.m. at parks and other sites around the city, for Duval residents only, no businesses. Dates are on the HHW Mobile Collection Events page ↗ and can change.
  • Trail Ridge Landfill, 5110 U.S. Highway 301 South, Baldwin, about 4.5 miles south of I-10; 904-748-6015. Monday to Friday 6 a.m. to 7 p.m., Saturday 6 a.m. to 1 p.m., closed Sunday. Weekdays cost $30.30 a ton for household garbage and building materials and $25 a ton for yard waste. The Saturday residential rate is $1 for the first 500 pounds, then $30.30 a ton. Appliances cost $20 each; passenger car tires $1.50 each at the scale house or $13.50 if left on the hill, truck tires $10 and other tires $28. Declare appliances and tires at the scale house or pay a surcharge.

For needles and lancets, use a hard plastic or metal container (not clear, not glass), tape the lid and place it in the middle of your garbage.

Fees and billing

The residential solid waste fee pays for garbage, yard waste and recycling collection and disposal. It is billed as a non-ad valorem assessment on the property tax bill, so the tax bill’s early-payment discounts apply: 4% in November, 3% in December, 2% in January and 1% in February. Owners who escrow pay it monthly.

Period Monthly Yearly
October 2010 to December 2024 $12.65 $151.80
2025 $27.00 $324
2026 $29.50 $354
2027, subject to City Council approval $32.00 $384
  • Every eligible home is charged regardless of occupancy, and waivers are not granted for a property with only one residential unit. To contest a charge, call the Solid Waste Division at 904-255-7500 and file an affidavit for waiver.
  • The low-income exemption keeps the fee at $12.65 a month ($151.80 a year) under Ordinance 2025-2-E; apply through 630-CITY.
  • Extra carts are sold only in the Waste Pro area: $65 for a large cart, $55 for a small one. City and Meridian areas get no garbage carts, and extra recycling carts there are unavailable because of low inventory.

Missed pickup, damaged carts and new carts

Your hauler has until 6 p.m. on collection day. Once the day has passed, report a missed garbage, recycling, yard waste, bulk, tire or appliance collection on MyJax ↗, in the MyJax app or at 630-CITY. The phone line is open Monday to Thursday 8 a.m. to 5 p.m., Friday 8 a.m. to 7 p.m. and Saturday 8 a.m. to noon.

Waste is usually left behind because it was not out by 6 a.m., materials were mixed, a prohibited item was in the pile, it was too big, too heavy or too much, or a cart was overfilled or too close to an obstruction.

Report a broken cart through MyJax or 630-CITY and describe the damage in detail so the hauler can decide to repair or replace it; damage from misuse can bring a $65 replacement charge. The same channels handle cart delivery and lost or stolen carts. Waste Pro garbage customers can switch to a 64-gallon cart after a 60-day trial; the first swap is free and later changes carry a fee.

Set-out rules and fines

Ordinance Code Sec. 382.415 makes owners and tenants equally responsible for set-out. Waste put out after 6 a.m. need not be collected if the truck has passed; it stays yours until the next pickup. Mixing garbage, trash and yard trash in one container is unlawful, and violations are civil infractions under Chapter 609, Code Enforcement Citations. Report illegal dumping to 630-CITY; for dumped hazardous waste, call 904-255-7519 or 904-255-7501.

Materials with their own rules

More in Florida