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

Boerne trash pickup is done by WM under a contract with the City of Boerne, and the charge sits on your Boerne Utilities bill. The green-lid garbage bin and the yellow-lid recycling bin both go once a week on the same day. Find your day on the city’s collection map. What trips people up most: nothing outside a bin is collected, and bulk and brush go out only in the second full week of the month.

Main Street in Boerne, Texas, in August 2026

Photo: Main Street in Boerne, Texas. Larry D. Moore, 2026-08-10. CC BY 4.0 · Source. Resized for web.

Boerne trash and recycling pickup schedule

The City of Boerne contracts WM, formerly Waste Management, for weekly trash and recycling, monthly bulk and brush pickup and an at-home hazardous waste collection. The service is part of the Boerne Utilities account, so it covers residential utility customers both inside and outside the city limits, at slightly different rates. Commercial customers are not on the residential route; they contract with WM directly at 800-800-5804.

Since January 5, 2026, garbage and recycling are picked up on the same day. For most homes, the recycling day simply moved to the old garbage day. In the Herff Ranch subdivision, both collections moved to Thursday. Our news story explains the change: Boerne, Texas moves garbage and recycling to the same collection day. Look up your address on the interactive map ↗ or the collection service map PDF ↗.

Service Container How often
Garbage 96-gallon green wheeled bin with a green lid Once a week
Recycling Green wheeled bin with a yellow lid Once a week, same day as garbage
Bulky items No container; curbside pile up to 4 cubic yards Once a month, second full week, on your regular day
Brush Bundles up to 5 feet long Once a month by WM, second full week; a separate city pickup on request in the third week

The city’s curbside page describes the recycling bin as 64 gallons, but in January 2025 WM began swapping those carts for 96-gallon recycling carts at every residential address, with the change-out due to finish by February 7, 2025.

  • Bins may go out after 5 p.m. the evening before and must be at the curb by 7 a.m. on collection day.
  • Everything must be inside the bin with the lid closed. WM does not collect trash or recyclables left outside the bin, and tied bags of trash belong inside the green-lid bin.
  • Do not fill a bin with rocks, dirt or other heavy loads. A bin the truck cannot lift is left behind; spread the contents over the following week’s pickup or the bulky collection.
  • Place bins within one foot of the curb or fence, five feet from cars, mailboxes and other obstructions, and four feet apart with the handles facing your house. Do not park where you block the bins or a bulk pile.
  • Need a second garbage bin? The city has request forms for addresses inside ↗ and outside ↗ the city limits; the two-bin rate is in the fees section below.
  • Under the contract renewed in 2025, WM provides door-to-truck collection for residents who show a need or hardship, and residents 65 and older can ask Customer Care and Billing about a discounted rate.

What goes in the Boerne recycling cart

Recyclables go loose in the yellow-lid bin, never bagged.

  • Yes: paper; plastic bottles and containers, emptied; food and beverage cartons; pizza boxes; flattened cardboard and paperboard such as cereal boxes; food and beverage cans; glass bottles and jars.
  • No: food waste or liquids; plastic wrap and bags, including grocery bags; Styrofoam and other foam; napkins, paper towels, tissue paper, plastic cups and plastic utensils; window or auto glass; glass or metal cookware and bakeware; household appliances and electronics; clothes, textiles and fabrics; microwavable trays; porcelain and ceramics; clothes hangers, plastic or wire; needles, syringes and other medical supplies; propane tanks and batteries; light bulbs; yard waste.

Break cardboard down before it goes in the cart. Anything outside the cart stays at the curb. Pizza boxes are on Boerne’s yes list.

Yard waste and food scraps

Boerne has no yard waste cart and no food scrap program. Yard waste is on the recycling no list, so grass and leaves go in the garbage bin, and branches go out as brush.

Brush means cuttings and clippings from pruning or maintaining your own trees and shrubs, and dead or damaged trees or shrubs that would be hazardous left standing. Small uprooted stumps count if the dirt, rock and debris are knocked off. Brush from lot clearing, tree-trimming companies or landscapers is not collected.

  • Cut, tie and bundle brush in sections no longer than 5 feet, with pieces no more than 5 inches across, at the curb by 7 a.m.
  • WM brush pickup: once a month during the second full week of the month, on your regular garbage day, with nothing to schedule. When many customers set out brush on the same day, WM may not reach yours until the next day.
  • City brush pickup: city crews run a separate collection in the third week of the month. Schedule it by the last business day before that week, by phone at 830-249-9511 option 1 or with the online brush request form ↗. One city brush collection per calendar year is free; each additional one costs $30 plus tax on your next utility bill.

Bulk trash pickup in Boerne

WM collects bulky items once a month, during the second full week of the month, on your regular collection day. There is nothing to call in: have the pile at the curb by 7 a.m. on your pickup day, limited to 4 cubic yards. Bulky collection is for things that do not fit in the garbage bin.

  • Taken: furniture, mattresses, carpet cut into 4-foot bundles, appliances with the refrigerant removed and labeled, and other oversized or numerous items beyond what the bin holds.
  • Not taken: appliances that still contain refrigerant, batteries, tires, electronics such as large TVs, paint, gasoline, motor oil and filters, vehicles and parts, construction debris, concrete, brick, asphalt and roofing, and anything heavier than 200 pounds.

The same-day schedule change in January 2026 did not touch bulk and brush; both stay in the second full week. Refrigerators, freezers and air conditioners with the refrigerant still inside are not collected at the curb and are also refused at the Kendall County drop-off; the refrigerant has to be removed and the appliance labeled first. Electronics go through the free at-home special collection described below.

Boerne holiday trash schedule

The city says WM keeps collecting through most weather and through every holiday except three: Thanksgiving, Christmas and New Year’s Day. On those days nothing runs, and the rest of that week’s collections shift. For the 2025-26 season, the city posted a one-day delay each time: Thursday routes moved to Friday and Friday routes to Saturday. The city announces each year’s schedule on its website and social media, and Boerne Utilities also closes City Hall for the holiday.

Holiday Date What to expect
Thanksgiving Thursday, November 26, 2026 No collection on the holiday; the city posts the shifted days for the rest of the week on its Garbage and Recycling page ↗.
Christmas Day Friday, December 25, 2026 No collection on the holiday; the city posts the shifted day for Friday routes.
New Year’s Day Friday, January 1, 2027 No collection on the holiday; the city posts the shifted day for Friday routes.

Every other holiday, including Martin Luther King Jr. Day, Memorial Day, Juneteenth, Independence Day, Labor Day and Veterans Day, is a normal collection day. A severe storm can also stop the trucks; the city notifies residents on its website and social channels when that happens.

Hazardous waste, electronics and drop-off sites

Boerne has no permanent household hazardous waste drop-off. Instead, every Boerne Utilities customer can use WM’s At Your Door Special Collection, a free at-home pickup for hazardous and hard-to-recycle items. Call WM at 800-449-7587 or email the program to schedule it, and WM collects the items from your door.

  • Taken: automotive waste (antifreeze, batteries, brake fluid, motor oil, filters, fuels); household cleaners (ammonia, heavy-duty cleaners, naval jelly, tile removers); swimming pool chemicals (chlorine tablets and liquid, pool acid, stabilizer); electronics (computers, MP3 players, TVs, DVD players, cellphones, monitors, printers); garden chemicals (fertilizers, herbicides, insect sprays, pesticides, weed killers); paint products (caulk, glue, paint, stripping materials, stain, thinner); artists’ paint, CFL bulbs and sharps.
  • Not taken: ammunition, medicine, explosives, asbestos, leaking containers, commercial chemicals, and any hazardous material in a container larger than five gallons.

Drop-off sites:

  • Kendall County Solid Waste (Boerne), 46 Spanish Pass Road, Boerne, TX 78006. Monday, Wednesday, Friday and Saturday, 9 a.m. to 4:30 p.m.; 830-537-4542. A county-run pay-as-you-throw drop-off for household waste only, no commercial or contractor waste. Small trash bags up to 17 gallons cost $2 and large bags 18 to 50 gallons $3; a full curbside-style container $10; a pickup truck load $30 and up. Bulk items are priced each: carpet $15 for an 8-by-10 piece and $25 and up for larger, an overstuffed chair or recliner $15, a mattress or box spring $15, a couch $25. Metal items: batteries $3, microwave $7, dishwasher, washer, dryer, range, lawn mower, gas grill or air conditioner without its compressor $10, water heater $15. Not accepted: building materials, shingles, wood, lumber, siding, fencing, paint cans, propane tanks, tires, concrete, soil, rocks, and any appliance or equipment still holding refrigerant.
  • Kendall County Solid Waste (Comfort), 28 FM 473, Comfort, TX 78013. Open only the second and fourth Saturday of the month, 8 a.m. to 4 p.m.; 830-331-8251. Same prices and the same household-only rule as the Boerne site.

Fees and billing

Garbage service is a line on the monthly Boerne Utilities bill, alongside water, wastewater, electric and gas. The rate depends on how many garbage bins you have, and it already covers recycling, the monthly bulk and brush pickups and the at-home hazardous waste collection.

Customer One waste wheeler Two waste wheelers
Residential, inside city limits $24.71 a month with tax $33.23 a month with tax
Residential, outside city limits $24.37 a month with tax $32.77 a month with tax

Those figures are the city’s garbage rate sheet, effective January 1, 2025. In its January 2026 notice about the same-day schedule, the city said the updated WM contract raises the monthly rate to $24.96 for one cart and $33.22 for two, including all applicable fees. The WM contract allows an annual increase tied to the consumer price index, so the number on your bill can move each January.

Fees from the city’s fee ordinance, effective October 1, 2025:

  • Garbage billing and collection fee: $1 per customer per month.
  • Brush collection monthly fee: $1 per customer per month.
  • Additional garbage or brush pickup: $30 per pickup.
  • Special brush collection request for an owner account with tenants, a commercial account or an inactive account: $26 per pickup.

Residents 65 and older can ask about the senior discount.

Missed pickup, damaged carts and new carts

If your bins were not emptied, call Boerne Utilities Customer Care and Billing at 830-249-9511 option 1 during office hours, Monday to Friday 8 a.m. to 5 p.m. The office closes at 4 p.m. on the third Wednesday of each month. After hours, on weekends and on holidays, the number is 830-248-1633. Before you call, check that the bin was out by 7 a.m., that nothing was outside it, and that the truck could lift it; an overloaded or blocked bin is left on purpose.

A stolen or damaged bin is replaced through the same office, or with the online forms for a replacement garbage bin ↗ and a replacement recycling bin ↗. A second garbage bin is a paper request form, one for inside ↗ and one for outside ↗ the city limits, and moves you to the two-wheeler rate.

Set-out rules and fines

  • Out by 7 a.m. on collection day; no earlier than 5 p.m. the evening before.
  • All trash inside the green-lid bin, all recyclables loose inside the yellow-lid bin, lids closed. Nothing outside a bin is collected.
  • One foot from the curb or fence, five feet from obstructions, four feet between bins, handles toward the house.
  • No rocks, dirt or other loads too heavy to lift.
  • Bulk piles no bigger than 4 cubic yards and brush bundles no longer than 5 feet, both out by 7 a.m. in the second full week of the month.
  • Do not park vehicles where they block bins or a bulk pile.

The city’s collection pages describe these rules without listing a fine; a bin or pile that breaks them is simply left at the curb until the next pickup.

Materials with their own rules

  • Household hazardous waste: free at-home pickup through WM’s At Your Door Special Collection, 800-449-7587.
  • Paint: paint, stain, thinner, caulk and glue go to the at-home special collection; paint cans are refused at the Kendall County drop-off.
  • Lithium-ion batteries: batteries are on the recycling no list and the bulky no list; use the at-home special collection.
  • Mattresses: the monthly bulky pile, or $15 each at the Kendall County drop-off.
  • Tires: not collected at the curb and not accepted at the county drop-off.
  • Aerosol cans and propane tanks: propane tanks are refused in the recycling bin and at the county site; pool and garden chemicals in aerosols go to the at-home special collection.
  • Pizza boxes: yellow-lid recycling bin.

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