Tennessee 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, Nashville, Memphis and Knoxville collect curbside themselves. Tennessee has no statewide bottle deposit, PaintCare paint, mattress or electronics recycling program.
Find your city
- Knoxville — Waste and Resources Management through Waste Connections, grey cart weekly and recycling every other week, paid by city taxes. Thanksgiving and Christmas are the only holidays without pickup.
- Nashville — Metro Waste Services, Tuesday through Friday after the February 2, 2026 change. Brush and leaves are a Department of Transportation program, not Waste Services.
Other large cities and their official collection pages:
- Memphis: City of Memphis Solid Waste Management. Garbage and recycling carts and up to two bags of yard waste are collected weekly, and yard debris beyond two bags plus bulk waste is picked up twice a month on the regular collection day. Official page ↗ Look up your collection day ↗
Missing your city? Suggest a City.
Who collects in Tennessee
- Nashville Department of Waste Services — municipal department
- TDEC quotes state law requiring each county to provide at least one site to receive and store waste tires, used automotive oils and fluids, and lead-acid batteries if adequate sites are not otherwise available in the county. Source ↗
- Whole, unshredded tires may not be landfilled in Tennessee, and tire disposal must happen at a permitted processing facility or a county waste tire collection site. Source ↗
- For old electronics, TDEC points residents to manufacturer take-back programs, in-store drop-off at national retail chains, community recycling events and local recyclers, and notes a small fee may apply for items such as CRT monitors. 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 a deposit-refund system for beverage containers, and Tennessee is not one of them. Source ↗
- Paint: Not a PaintCare state. PaintCare says it currently operates programs in twelve states and the District of Columbia, and Tennessee is not on that list. Leftover paint goes through the local household hazardous waste program; see paint. Source ↗
- Mattresses: No statewide mattress take-back program. The Mattress Recycling Council says its Bye Bye Mattress program operates statewide in California, Connecticut, Oregon and Rhode Island only. See mattresses. Source ↗
- Electronics: No statewide electronics law. Tennessee is not among the 25 states and the District of Columbia that NCSL lists as having enacted a statewide electronic waste recycling program, and no statewide electronics landfill ban was found. Source ↗
- Yard waste: No statewide landfill ban. TDEC permits Class I landfills to take household municipal solid waste and Class III landfills to take landscaping, land clearing and farming wastes, and no statewide yard waste disposal ban was found. Source ↗
- TDEC has run a mobile household hazardous waste collection service open to any Tennessee resident since 1993, with events held in the spring and fall on a schedule the department posts each year. Source ↗
- Residents of Davidson, Knox, Hamilton, Putnam or Shelby counties may instead take household hazardous waste to the permanent collection site in their county. Source ↗
State agency
- State agency: Tennessee Department of Environment and Conservation, Division of Land Protection, Waste Management Branch. TDEC permits and regulates Tennessee’s landfills, transfer stations, convenience centers and processors, and its Materials Management program supports county recycling and solid waste planning, household hazardous waste collection and the waste tire program. Official website ↗
- Find your local program: Where to take household waste and recyclables ↗
- Contact: 615-532-0780
Flag of Tennessee. Public-domain artwork. Artwork: xfi-. Source. Resized to 480 pixels wide.
Materials with their own rules
Paint · Lithium-ion batteries · Household hazardous waste · Mattresses · Pizza boxes · Christmas trees
Neighboring states
Alabama · Arkansas · Georgia · Kentucky · Mississippi · Missouri · North Carolina · Virginia
Sources
Official pages used: tn.gov · tn.gov · nashville.gov · nashville.gov · memphistn.gov · recycle.memphistn.gov · knoxvilletn.gov · knoxvilletn.gov · ncsl.org · paintcare.org · mattressrecyclingcouncil.org · ncsl.org · tn.gov · tn.gov · tn.gov · tn.gov.
Back to all states.