Rhode Island trash pickup is run by cities, counties and private haulers, not by the state.
Your pickup day comes from your city’s or hauler’s own lookup. Among the largest cities, Providence, Cranston and Warwick collect curbside themselves. Rhode Island has a PaintCare paint drop-off program, a mattress recycling program, an electronics recycling law and a ban on yard waste in landfills, but no statewide bottle deposit program.
Find your city
The largest Rhode Island cities and their official collection pages:
- Providence: City of Providence Department of Public Works. Trash and recycling are collected on the same day each week, and carts must be at the curb the night before or no later than 5:30 a.m. on collection day. Official page ↗ Look up your collection day ↗
- Cranston: City of Cranston Department of Public Works. Curbside refuse and recycling are collected once a week for one-, two-, three- and four-family dwellings, with carts out by 6:15 a.m. on collection day. Official page ↗
- Warwick: City of Warwick Recycling and Sanitation Division, Department of Public Works. The division collects recycling, trash and yard waste weekly for more than 28,000 residential homes. Official page ↗
Missing your city? Suggest a City.
Who collects in Rhode Island
- Collection is run by each city or town; Resource Recovery does not manage local collection service or drop-off facilities and does not give bins or carts to individuals. Source ↗
- Televisions, computers, monitors, laptops, tablets and mercury-added products are banned from landfill disposal at Resource Recovery’s Central Landfill in Johnston. Source ↗
National haulers (Republic Services, WM, Waste Connections) hold contracts in many places; the city or county names the hauler for each street.
State-level rules
- Container deposit: No statewide container deposit law. NCSL’s state beverage container deposit laws page says ten states and Guam have deposit-refund systems and Rhode Island is not among them. Source ↗
- Paint: Rhode Island is on the PaintCare roster. PaintCare lists Rhode Island as one of the twelve states plus the District of Columbia where it runs a paint stewardship program. See paint. Source ↗
- Mattresses: Rhode Island has a mattress stewardship program. The Mattress Recycling Council’s Bye Bye Mattress program operates in Rhode Island, funded by a recycling fee on each mattress and box spring sold. See mattresses. Source ↗
- Electronics: Rhode Island’s E-Waste Prevention, Reuse and Recycling Act (R.I.G.L. Chapter 23-24.10) bans televisions and computers from landfill disposal and makes manufacturers run a take-back program or join the state program operated by RI Resource Recovery Corporation. Source ↗
- Yard waste: Banned from landfills statewide. DEM’s recycling regulation lists leaf and yard waste among the materials that must be segregated from municipal solid waste. Source ↗
State agency
- State agency: Rhode Island Department of Environmental Management, Office of Land Revitalization and Sustainable Materials Management. It writes and enforces Rhode Island’s solid waste and recycling rules, licenses solid waste facilities, and sets the list of materials that must be separated from trash. Official website ↗
- Find your local program: Municipal litter and recycling contacts ↗
- Contact: 401-222-2797
Flag of Rhode Island. Public-domain artwork. Artwork: Xrmap flag collection 2.7. Source. Resized to 480 pixels wide.
Materials with their own rules
Paint · Lithium-ion batteries · Household hazardous waste · Mattresses · Pizza boxes · Christmas trees
Mattress disposal in Rhode Island: the state’s Bye Bye Mattress rules, fee and drop-off sites.
Neighboring states
Sources
Official pages used: dem.ri.gov · dem.ri.gov · litterfree.ri.gov · providenceri.gov · providenceri.gov · providenceri.gov · cranstonri.gov · warwickri.gov · ncsl.org · paintcare.org · byebyemattress.com · rules.sos.ri.gov · rirrc.org · rirrc.org.
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