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

Indianapolis trash pickup is weekly, run by the Department of Public Works in four solid waste districts and by its contractor LRS in the other seven. Your trash and heavy trash days depend on your address; look them up on indy.gov. Heavy trash goes once a month, two items at most. What trips residents up: curbside recycling is not automatic. It is a paid, every-other-week subscription you order from LRS.

Downtown Indianapolis skyline in the evening

Photo: Downtown Indianapolis skyline in the evening. Chris Bowman, 2014-04-23. CC BY 2.0 · Source. Resized for web.

Indianapolis trash and recycling pickup schedule

Trash service covers Indianapolis and Marion County in eleven solid waste districts, which are not the same as council districts. Since January 1, 2026, LRS collects the areas that Republic Services and WM used to serve; the Department of Public Works (DPW) keeps Districts 5, 7, 8 and 11.

Service Container How often
Trash City-issued 96-gallon cart, trash bagged inside Weekly, on your trash day
Heavy trash Up to two bulky items beside the cart Once a month; the day varies by address
Recycling (optional subscription) Recycling cart Every other week
  • Routes run five days a week starting at 7 a.m. Have the cart at the curb before 7 a.m., two to three feet from the curb, with the arrows pointing to the street or alley.
  • Put all trash in garbage bags inside the cart. If the cart holds unacceptable items, the crew leaves a tag that explains what to fix.
  • The 96-gallon cart is free and stays with the home when you move.
  • Collectors have until 6 p.m. to pick up trash.
  • In winter, set carts in front of snow piles, shovel a path to the street and keep snow and ice off the carts.

How the switch to LRS worked, from the free gray cart swap to the districts DPW kept: LRS takes over Indianapolis trash collection in 7 districts.

What goes in the Indianapolis recycling cart

Curbside recycling is a subscription, collected every other week. Whether DPW or LRS collects your trash, you sign up with LRS at 317-245-4444 or online through the city’s recycling page, and the Find Your Recycling Pickup Day ↗ form gives your provider and day. Under the city’s contract, LRS may charge subscribers no more than $9.00 a month, billed $27.00 a quarter. The city announced universal curbside recycling for 2028.

  • Yes: all colors of glass; plastic bottles, jugs and tubs (plastics #1, #2 and #5 are the most reliably recycled in Indianapolis); aluminum, tin and steel beverage and food cans; newspapers, magazines, cardboard, paper and paperboard cans.
  • No: plastic bags, plastic film and polystyrene foam.
  • Rinse glass, plastics and cans clean of food and let them dry.

Without a subscription, you can drop off recyclables free of charge at sites around Indianapolis and Marion County, including Sahm Park, 6801 E. 91st St.; Broad Ripple Park, Evanston Avenue entrance, 6380 Evanston Ave.; and the Pike Township Trustee Office, 5665 Lafayette Rd. Put items in loose. Anything left on the ground, even recyclables that did not fit, counts as illegal dumping, with fines up to $2,500; report dumping at these sites through RequestIndy, anonymously if you like.

Yard waste, leaves and Christmas trees

Small amounts of yard waste can go in the trash cart if bagged or bundled and the lid still closes. Loose yard waste, or more than fits, is refused in the cart. Branches go as heavy trash: bundled limbs 3 feet in diameter and 3 feet long count as one item.

Leaves are picked up with regular trash during leaf collection season, in November and December. During the season you can set out 40 bags of leaves a week in large plastic trash bags, on the street by 7 a.m. and 3 to 5 feet from your cart. The 2025 season ran November 10 to December 5. Bags of leaves are also taken at the Citizens’ Transfer Station.

Christmas trees go to seven drop-off locations around the city, including Ellenberger Park, 5301 E. St. Clair St. (northeast corner by the pool), and Garfield Park, 2432 Conservatory Drive.

Heavy trash pickup in Indianapolis

Heavy trash is collected once a month on a day set by your address; the same lookup that gives your trash day shows it.

  • Set out up to two heavy or bulky items at the curb next to your trash cart. Heavy trash means bulky items that do not fit in the cart.
  • Appliances without Freon, such as a stove or water heater, are accepted.
  • Bundled limbs 3 feet in diameter and 3 feet long count as one item.
  • Refused: construction debris; tires, since state law (Indiana Code 13-20-14-1) bars whole tires from landfills; and electronics, which Indiana law keeps out of curbside and heavy trash.
  • Refrigerators, freezers and air conditioners with Freon need a scheduled pickup: request it through Report a Trash Pickup Issue ↗ or call the Mayor’s Action Center at 317-327-4622.

Extra heavy trash and extra bags of household trash can go to the Citizens’ Transfer Station on Saturdays.

Indianapolis holiday trash schedule

Trash, heavy trash and recycling are delayed one day on the city’s listed holidays, a “slide schedule”: Monday’s collection moves to Tuesday and so on, and Friday’s moves to Saturday. A holiday that falls on a weekend is not observed, and collection stays normal. The list includes New Year’s Day, Martin Luther King Jr. Day and Thanksgiving Day.

Holiday Date Collection change
Thanksgiving Day Thursday, November 26, 2026 Delayed one day; Friday pickups on Saturday, November 28
New Year’s Day Friday, January 1, 2027 Delayed one day; Friday pickups on Saturday, January 2

The Citizens’ Transfer Station closes the Saturday closest to Christmas Day and the Saturday closest to New Year’s Day (December 26, 2026 and January 2, 2027). ToxDrop sites close on all major holidays.

Hazardous waste, electronics and drop-off sites

Household hazardous waste and electronics go to ToxDrop, the city’s Saturday drop-off program. It serves only Marion County residents and takes no commercial waste. Bring up to 20 gallons of liquids or 75 pounds of solids per visit, and up to five computer systems; waste brought in trash bags may be refused.

  • Traders Point Collection Facility, 7550 N. Lafayette Rd. First Saturday of each month, 9 a.m. to 2 p.m.
  • Perry Township Government Center, 4925 S. Shelby St. Second and fourth Saturday of each month, 9 a.m. to 2 p.m.
  • Both sites are closed on the third and fifth Saturdays and on all major holidays. Never leave waste at a closed site.

ToxDrop’s list of accepted items opens with AA and AAA batteries, adhesives, aerosol cans, air fresheners, ammonia, bathroom cleaners, brake fluid, carpet cleaners, chlorine bleach and compact fluorescent light bulbs; accepted electronics include DVR and TiVo devices and cable and satellite boxes. Indiana’s electronic waste law has barred households from putting electronics in the trash since 2011. RecycleForce also takes electronics at its own facility during its hours, and the city holds occasional drive-thru disposal events.

Other drop-off sites:

  • Marion County Citizens’ Transfer Station, 2324 S. Belmont Ave. Saturdays 8 a.m. to 4 p.m. Extra household trash, heavy trash and bags of leaves; $2 a carload or $5 an SUV or pickup load, cash only, up to two trips a day. Moving trucks, dual axles, trailers, haulers, stake-bed trucks and loads over 3/4 ton are not allowed.
  • South Side Landfill, 2561 Kentucky Ave. The city points residents here when no other option works; prices are based on volume.

Fees and billing

  • Solid waste user fee: $32.00 a year, charged in two semi-annual installments of $16.00.
  • Curbside recycling: optional; LRS may charge no more than $9.00 a month, billed $27.00 a quarter.
  • Trash cart: free; the 96-gallon cart stays with the home.
  • Citizens’ Transfer Station: $2 a carload, $5 an SUV or pickup load, cash only.

Missed pickup, damaged carts and new carts

Crews have until 6 p.m. to collect, so a missed trash pickup cannot be reported until the next business day. Use Report a Trash Pickup Issue ↗ for a missed regular or heavy trash pickup, or to schedule a refrigerator, freezer or air conditioner pickup. Many city service requests can also be filed on RequestIndy, online or in its mobile app at any hour, where you can follow their status.

The Mayor’s Action Center takes the same requests by phone at 317-327-4622: Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday and Friday 8 a.m. to 5 p.m., Thursday 8 a.m. to 2 p.m. and 3 p.m. to 5 p.m. A damaged or stolen 96-gallon cart has its own form, Report a Damaged or Stolen 96-Gallon Cart ↗.

Materials with their own rules

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