New Bedford, Massachusetts Trash Pickup Schedule & Recycling Rules

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

New Bedford trash pickup is run by the city’s Department of Facilities and Fleet Management, and Capitol Waste Services runs the routes. The blue-lid trash cart and the orange-lid recycling cart go once a week on one day, set by your address on the city’s collection map. Carts go out after 5 p.m. the day before and by 7 a.m. What trips people up: recycling is mandatory, and recyclables in the trash cart can cost a property its collection.

• Who collects: City of New Bedford Department of Facilities and Fleet Management ↗, through its contractor Capitol Waste Services, for homes of one to six units and small businesses; buildings of seven or more units hire their own hauler
• Your pickup day: depends on your address; the map of collection days is linked from the city’s Solid Waste Collection page ↗. Carts out by 7 a.m.
• Holiday changes: on eleven listed holidays, collection runs one day late for the rest of the week; Holiday Schedule ↗
• Missed pickup: call Capitol Waste Services at 855-533-3400, Monday to Friday 9 a.m. to 5 p.m.
• Contact: Facilities and Fleet Management, 508-979-1520, trashandrecycling@newbedford-ma.gov, 294 Liberty Street; Greater New Bedford Regional Refuse Management District, 508-979-1493, for drop-off events
• Official website: City of New Bedford: Solid Waste and Recycling ↗

Photo: Fishing boats tied up at the docks in New Bedford, Massachusetts. Deb Beatty Mel, 2018-08-23. CC BY 2.0 · Source. Resized for web.

New Bedford trash and recycling pickup schedule

The city’s program covers residential buildings of one to six dwelling units and small businesses. A building of seven or more units is a “commercial dwelling” under the city’s rules and gets no city trash collection; its owner hires a private hauler, and recycling is still required there.

• Find your day on the map of solid waste collection days, linked from the city’s Solid Waste Collection page ↗.
• All trash must be bagged and fit inside the cart with the lid closed flush. Nothing on top of, beside or under the cart is collected.
• Bring empty carts back by 7 p.m. and store them at the side or rear of the building; a front yard is allowed only where the carts are screened.
• Properties of one to three units get their carts at no charge. Properties of four to six units, businesses and mixed-use buildings pay a one-time cart fee.
• Downtown (Middle Street to School Street, County Street to Route 18) is different: trash Monday through Friday and recycling on Thursday, set out between 3 a.m. and 8 a.m. in covered barrels of up to 45 gallons and 60 pounds or a city recycling cart; see the Downtown Collection page ↗.

What goes in the New Bedford recycling cart

Recycling is mandatory in New Bedford for everyone, including people who pay for private collection. The city’s rules define single-stream recyclables as paper, plastic containers, metal containers and glass containers, loose in the orange-lid cart. For a single item, the city points to the Recyclopedia from Recycle Smart MA ↗.

• Yes: paper, cardboard and paperboard, loose and never bagged; plastic containers marked 1 through 7; aluminum, steel and bi-metal food and beverage cans; glass bottles and jars; cartons. Rinse every container and strip packaging from cardboard.
• No: plastic bags, plastic wrap and Styrofoam; light bulbs, Pyrex, drinking glasses, plate glass, windows, mirrors, windshields and ceramics; wax-coated cardboard, which goes in the trash; food waste; yard waste; clothing and textiles, which are banned from the trash statewide and go to a clothing drop-off box or a curbside donation pickup instead.
• Everything must fit in the cart with the lid closed. Extra recycling carts cost a one-time $59.18 for 65 gallons or $66.82 for 95 gallons; call 508-979-1520.

Yard waste and food scraps

Capitol Waste Services collects grass, leaves and small twigs up to a quarter inch thick once a week in season, on the weekday after your trash day: Monday trash means Tuesday yard waste, and Friday trash means Monday yard waste. In 2025 the season ran from the week of April 7 to the week of December 15; the city posts each year’s dates on its Yard Waste Collection page ↗.

• Put yard waste loose in a barrel or in biodegradable brown paper leaf bags, at the curb by 7 a.m. No cardboard boxes, no plastic bags, and never the city trash or recycling carts.
• Branches and brush are separate: Capitol Waste collects bundled brush on the last Wednesday of each month from late April to late November, by appointment only at 855-533-3400. Tie bundles no longer than 4 feet and no wider than 2 feet, with no branch thicker than 4 inches.
• Food scraps have three routes. The free Food Waste Drop-Off Program at the Recycling Center, 1103 Shawmut Avenue, takes all unpackaged food, including bones and seafood shells, loose or in BPI-certified compostable bags, for residents with proof of residency; a free countertop bin and compostable bags are handed out at 294 Liberty Street, Monday to Friday 8 a.m. to 3:30 p.m., while supplies last. The paid curbside option is Black Earth Compost’s subscription, run with the city and the refuse district: $21.99 a month or $119.99 for six months weekly, $17.99 a month or $94.99 for six months every other week, with the first collection on Friday, September 25, 2026; our story on the New Bedford food scrap pickup program has the sign-up details. The third is a backyard bin, sold by the district for $25 at the Crapo Hill Landfill scale house.

Bulk trash pickup in New Bedford

Capitol Waste Services picks up bulky waste, white goods and mattresses at the curb by appointment. Book at 855-533-3400 or through the Capitol Waste scheduler ↗. Items can be scheduled for, and placed at the curb on, your regular trash day only.

• Bulky waste, up to 3 items per household per appointment: sofas, stuffed chairs and area rugs are the city’s examples.
• White goods, up to 3 items per household: washers, dryers, stoves, refrigerators and water heaters; televisions and computer monitors; air conditioners; and large metal items such as grills, microwaves, swing sets, bicycles and file cabinets.
• Mattresses and box springs: $10 per item, paid to Capitol Waste when you book. Each dwelling unit can schedule one mattress and one box spring per six-month period. Massachusetts bans mattresses from the trash.
• Not collected at the curb: construction debris such as sinks, cabinets, vanities, shower doors, doors, windows, shutters, screens, flooring, wall-to-wall carpet, sheetrock, toilets, countertops, fencing, bricks and lumber. Wood is taken only as a broken-down piece of furniture. The Recycling Center refuses construction debris too.

New Bedford holiday trash schedule

The rule is one day late for the rest of the week. When one of the city’s listed holidays falls Monday through Friday, trash and recycling collection moves one day later from the holiday on: Monday routes go Tuesday, Tuesday routes Wednesday, and so on, with Friday routes collected on Saturday. Thanksgiving is the exception: Monday, Tuesday and Wednesday keep their days, the Thursday area is collected Friday and the Friday area on Saturday. Yard waste follows the trash day. The full list is on the city’s Holiday Schedule page ↗.

Independence Day 2027 falls on a Sunday, and the city states the rule only for weekday holidays. Juneteenth is not on the citywide list, but the downtown collection page counts it among the holidays that alter downtown pickup.

Hazardous waste, electronics and drop-off sites

New Bedford has no permanent household hazardous waste site. The Greater New Bedford Regional Refuse Management District runs a Household Hazardous Waste Drop-Off Day twice a year, in spring and fall, at the Crapo Hill Landfill. The last one was Saturday, August 29, 2026, and the district posts the next date on its Household Hazardous Waste Drop-Off Days page ↗. The landfill itself is not open to the public on other days.

• Household Hazardous Waste Drop-Off Day, Crapo Hill Landfill, 300 Samuel Barnet Boulevard, New Bedford, MA 02745. Free for New Bedford, Dartmouth and Freetown residents with proof of residency; households only, no businesses, schools or contractors; a time slot must be booked online or at 508-979-1493. Bring up to 25 gallons or 50 pounds. Takes oil-based paint, paint thinner, pesticides, old gasoline, wood preservatives, household cleaners and aerosols that still hold product. Does not take latex paint, fluorescent bulbs, motor oil, antifreeze or empty containers. Enter through the New Bedford Business Park at Phillips Road and Braley Road; traffic runs one way.
• New Bedford Recycling Center, 1103 Shawmut Avenue, New Bedford, MA 02746. Monday, Wednesday and Friday noon to 5 p.m. and Saturday 7:30 a.m. to 3 p.m.; from December 1 the weekday hours shorten to 11 a.m. to 4 p.m. for the winter, and Saturday stays the same. New Bedford residents only, with proof of residency, and only residential material generated inside the city. Run by Facilities and Fleet Management, 508-979-1520. It takes food scraps, yard waste, pumpkins, old string lights and usable latex paint for the Paint Swap Shed, where residents can also take paint home free after an attendant checks the cans; the Swap Shop takes and gives away gently used household items. It does not take construction and demolition debris, sewage, chemicals, bulky items, household trash, furniture, unusable paint or tires. The accepted-items flyer is on the Recycling Center page ↗.
• Latex paint: usable cans go to the Paint Swap Shed; the rest is dried out and put in the trash cart. Oil-based paint, solvents and other chemicals wait for the next Household Hazardous Waste Drop-Off Day.
• Electronics: televisions and computer monitors go on a white goods appointment with Capitol Waste.
• Clothing, shoes and linens: the city maps clothing drop-off boxes, and CMRK offers a free curbside donation pickup by registration at 508-466-4590.

Fees and billing

New Bedford does not bill households for weekly trash and recycling collection, and properties of one to three dwelling units get their carts at no charge. The fees the city does publish:

Missed pickup, damaged carts and new carts

For a missed trash, recycling, yard waste, bulky or brush pickup, call Capitol Waste Services at 855-533-3400, Monday to Friday 9 a.m. to 5 p.m. A missing or damaged cart, or an order for an extra recycling cart, goes to the Department of Facilities and Fleet Management at 508-979-1520 or trashandrecycling@newbedford-ma.gov; the office is at 294 Liberty Street, open Monday to Friday.

Set-out rules and fines

• Carts out no earlier than 5 p.m. the day before and by 7 a.m. on collection day, back in by 7 p.m. Downtown, containers go out between 3 a.m. and 8 a.m.; downtown businesses bring them in by 11 a.m. and residents by 7 p.m.
• Lids closed flush, nothing on top of, beside or under the cart, and carts two feet apart. Trash bagged; recycling loose.
• No recyclables, yard waste, bulky items, construction debris or hazardous waste in the trash cart.
• The ordinance works on violation notices rather than a fixed fine. A property that collects more than five notices on five separate dates loses collection: 30 days the first time, 60 days for the second and third, 90 for the fourth and fifth, 180 for the sixth through ninth, and a full year from the tenth on.

Materials with their own rules

• Household hazardous waste: the district’s twice-yearly Drop-Off Day at the Crapo Hill Landfill, by time slot, up to 25 gallons or 50 pounds.
• Paint: usable latex paint to the Recycling Center’s Paint Swap Shed; dried latex in the trash; oil-based paint to a Drop-Off Day.
• Mattresses: $10 each by appointment with Capitol Waste, one mattress and one box spring per unit every six months.
• Lithium-ion batteries: never in either cart; the city points to the Recycle Smart MA Recyclopedia for take-back sites.
• Pizza boxes: clean cardboard recycles; greasy boxes go to food waste drop-off or the trash.
• Aerosol cans and propane tanks: aerosols with product left go to a Drop-Off Day; empty cans are trash.

More in Massachusetts

• Massachusetts trash and recycling rules
• Boston trash pickup
• Holiday changes by city
• Bulk pickup rules by city
• Missed pickup contacts by city
• Trash service cost by city
• Drop-off locations by city