Austin Trash Pickup Schedule & Recycling Rules, Texas

States & Cities › Texas › Austin

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

The Austin trash pickup schedule is set by Austin Resource Recovery (ARR) for homes of up to four units. The brown trash and green compost carts go weekly on the same day; the blue recycling cart goes every other week. Find your day and recycling weeks in My Schedule or the Austin Recycles app. What trips people up most: bulk and brush no longer come on a neighborhood schedule; you book them, up to three times a year.

• Who collects: Austin Resource Recovery, the City of Austin department, for single-family homes and properties of up to four units
• Your pickup day: depends on your address; My Schedule ↗ or the Austin Recycles app
• Holiday changes: only New Year’s Day, Thanksgiving and Christmas, one day later for the rest of that week; Residential Services ↗
• Missed pickup: Austin 3-1-1 or the ARR email form ↗ after 4 p.m. on the missed day and within 2 business days
• Contact: Austin 3-1-1 (512-974-2000); cart size changes 512-494-9400
• Official website: Austin Resource Recovery ↗

Photo: Austin skyline and the Colorado River. Quintin Soloviev, 2026-03-03. CC BY 4.0 · Source. Resized for web.

How the Austin pickup schedule works

My Schedule ↗ exports your calendar to Google, iCal or Outlook and sends text, email or phone reminders. In a condo or townhome, search the address without the unit number.

• Carts go to the curb by 5:30 a.m. on collection day, lids fully closed, handles toward the house.
• Keep carts five feet apart and away from cars, mailboxes, water meters, trees and overhead wires. Do not block bike lanes or sidewalks; with a protected bike lane in front, use the buffer strip or your lawn beside the sidewalk.
• Bag and tie trash. Never bag recycling. Compost may go in BPI-certified compostable or paper bags; plastic-bagged compost is charged as extra trash.
• No rocks, dirt, concrete, construction debris or hazardous waste in the trash cart. Box and label broken glass; put needles in a hard, lidded container.
• Buildings with five or more units are not on ARR routes and must use a private hauler.

What goes in the Austin recycling cart

Put everything in loose and unsorted. For single items, use the city’s What Do I Do With… tool ↗.

• Yes:
  • newspapers, magazines, glossy paper and junk mail
  • non-foil wrapping paper
  • coated paper cups, plates and takeout containers
  • food and beverage cartons (aseptic and gable top)
  • cardboard boxes broken down to about 2 by 2 feet, the size of the cart lid
  • toilet paper and paper towel rolls
  • plastic bottles, jugs, cups, tubs, jars and food containers, rinsed, lids attached
  • buckets, coat hangers, lawn chairs and non-battery toys
  • steel and tin cans and foil baking pans
  • foil balled to 2 inches or larger
  • glass bottles and jars, caps on (labels can stay)
• No:
  • plastic bags and film (store drop-off or the Recycle and Reuse Center)
  • Styrofoam
  • batteries
  • electronics
  • textiles
  • syringes
  • partly full aerosol cans
  • propane tanks
  • hoses
  • wood
  • straws and plasticware
  • any plastic item smaller than 3 inches

Extra recycling is free: set it beside the cart in a reusable container or a box no larger than the cart. A second blue cart is free; call 512-494-9400. Pizza boxes are on the green compost cart’s list.

Yard waste and food scraps

The green cart takes more than a backyard pile can. Set it out every week, even when it is not full.

• Yes:
  • meat, seafood and bones
  • dairy, bread, coffee grounds and leftovers
  • napkins, paper towels, uncoated paper plates, pizza boxes and coffee filters
  • yard trimmings, shredded paper and untreated wood
• No:
  • plastic of any kind
  • liquids and grease
  • glass and metal
  • Styrofoam
  • diapers, pet waste and kitty litter
  • glossy paper
  • treated wood and stumps
  • trash

Extras: up to 15 items beside the cart: paper leaf bags or containers up to 34 gallons and 50 pounds, and branch piles up to 30 pounds (no longer than 5 feet, no thicker than 3 inches). More waits a week or goes to Hornsby Bend.

Christmas trees: from December 26, set natural trees at the curb by 5:30 a.m. on your compost day. Remove decorations and stands, do not bag the tree, and cut trees 6 feet or taller in half; no flocked trees. Zilker Park drop-off dates are to be announced.

Bulk trash pickup in Austin

Bulk, brush, household hazardous waste and clothing pickups are on demand: up to three appointments per service per calendar year, booked in the Austin Recycles app, online ↗ or through Austin 3-1-1 (512-974-2000). Nothing is collected without one. Bookings cannot be edited: cancel the same way you booked, or through the confirmation email, and book again.

• Accepted:
  • appliances with doors removed
  • household carpet
  • doors
  • furniture
  • lawn mowers drained of gas and oil
  • nail-free lumber
  • pallets
  • railroad ties cut in half
  • rolled fencing
  • up to eight passenger car tires off their rims
• Refused:
  • brush
  • cardboard boxes
  • household trash
  • hazardous materials
  • mirrors, tile and sheet glass
  • remodeling debris
  • boats, trailers and motorcycles
  • car bodies
  • tires on rims

Set-out: by 5:30 a.m. on the appointment date, in three piles (metal and rigid plastic, including appliances and electronics; non-metal items; tires), 5 feet from carts, mailboxes, meters and parked cars. No bags or boxes, and nothing in alleys or in front of vacant lots or businesses.

Brush: limbs 5 to 15 feet long, stacked loosely in one row no more than 15 feet across and 4 feet high, cut ends toward the street. Trunks over 8 inches thick must be 3 feet long or less.

Clothing and textiles: up to two closed 13-gallon bags of clothing, linens and shoes by the front door or garage, never at the curb. No underwear, socks, pillows or rugs.

Beyond three: the city fee schedule lists a supplemental bulk pickup at $184 plus disposal (500-pound minimum) and a supplemental brush pickup at $173.

Austin holiday trash schedule

Only New Year’s Day, Thanksgiving and Christmas move collection. If your day falls on the holiday, or later that week, it slides one day; a weekend holiday moves nothing. My Schedule shows each slide.

Hazardous waste, electronics and drop-off sites

ARR curbside customers can book household hazardous waste pickup at home, up to three times a year. It takes aerosols, automotive fluids, car and household batteries (lithium-ion only from laptops or smaller devices), cleaners, cooking oil, fluorescent bulbs, mercury, paint, pesticides, pool chemicals and 1-pound propane cylinders. Limit 30 gallons per pickup, no container over 5 gallons, all sealed and labeled. Set it where crews can reach it, out of rain and sun, never at the curb.

Electronics go on a bulk pickup or to the center below. Household batteries (not car or solar batteries) also go to 22 Austin Public Library locations, including Central Library, 710 W. Cesar Chavez St.

• Recycle and Reuse Drop-off Center, 2514 Business Center Drive, Austin, TX 78744, 512-974-4343. By appointment only, booked in the Austin Recycles app or online ↗. Free for Austin and Travis County residents; $5 a visit for others; tires $6 each. Takes household hazardous waste (original containers of 5 gallons or less, no trash bags, up to 30 gallons free), TVs, computers, appliances, plastic bags and film, clean Styrofoam, scrap metal, clothing and up to two solar panels. Refuses furniture, mattresses, toilets, packing peanuts, trash, business waste, ammunition and syringes. Free reuse store, ReBlend paint and mulch.
• Hornsby Bend Biosolids Management Plant (Austin Water), 2210 FM 973, Austin. Monday to Saturday, 8 a.m. to 3 p.m., no appointment. Free for Austin and Travis County residents with government-issued photo ID. Takes tree limbs, branches, shrubs and leaves; no food waste, treated lumber, particle board or trash.

Fees and billing

Service is billed on the City of Austin utility bill, priced by trash cart size (pay-as-you-throw). The rate includes a base fee for recycling, compost, bulk, brush and hazardous waste pickup, charged even if you skip them.

• The base fee is $23.80 (proposed $24.90). All Austin residents, apartments included, also pay a $5.45 monthly Clean Community Fee (proposed $5.65).
• Downsizing is free. Moving to a bigger cart costs a one-time $15 exchange fee after your first 60 days of service. A second trash cart requires a 96-gallon first cart.
• Extra trash bags beside the cart need a sticker, $5 plus tax at most local grocery stores; unstickered bags cost $10.20 plus tax each. Bags must be 35 pounds and 40 gallons or less; contractor bags of 42 gallons or more are not allowed.

Missed pickup, damaged carts and new carts

1. Check the week: in the weeks of New Year’s Day, Thanksgiving and Christmas, collection from the holiday on slides one day.
2. Wait until 4 p.m. on collection day; on-demand items come on different trucks.
3. Report the missed cart to Austin 3-1-1 or the ARR email form ↗ within 2 business days; crews return as soon as possible.

A cart set out late can get a return trip for $20.50 per stream (proposed $21.20 for FY 2026-27). Call 512-494-9400 to change cart sizes or add a free blue cart. Report damaged carts to 3-1-1: normal wear is repaired free; a cart damaged by abuse or neglect is replaced for $45.

Materials with their own rules

• Household hazardous waste: three at-home pickups a year.
• Christmas trees: curbside on compost day from December 26.
• Paint: hazardous waste pickup or the Recycle and Reuse Center.
• Lithium-ion batteries: never in a cart.
• Mattresses: refused at the Recycle and Reuse Center.
• Pizza boxes: green compost cart.
• Styrofoam: not in any cart; clean, dry blocks go to the Recycle and Reuse Center by appointment, packing peanuts refused.
• Microwaves: free at the Recycle and Reuse Center by appointment for Austin and Travis County residents.
• Tires: up to eight on a bulk pickup, or $6 each at the center.
• Aerosol cans and propane tanks: empty aerosols in the blue cart; full or partly full ones and 1-pound propane cylinders on the hazardous waste pickup.

More in Texas

• Texas trash and recycling rules
• Boerne trash pickup
• Dallas trash pickup
• El Paso trash pickup
• Fort Worth trash pickup
• Houston trash pickup
• San Antonio trash pickup
• Holiday changes by city
• Bulk pickup rules by city
• Missed pickup contacts by city
• Drop-off locations by city