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

Dallas trash pickup for single-family homes and duplexes is run by the city’s Department of Sanitation Services. The gray garbage cart and blue recycling cart go weekly on the same day, and brush and bulky items go monthly. Enter your address on the Collection Schedules page or in the Dallas Sanitation app to see your days. What trips people up: brush piles go out only Thursday to Sunday before your collection week, and piles over 10 cubic yards cost extra.

Downtown Dallas skyline in the evening

Photo: Downtown Dallas skyline in the evening. Matthew T Rader, 2010-05-29. CC BY-SA 4.0 · Source. Resized for web.

Dallas trash and recycling pickup schedule

Sanitation Services is the exclusive garbage and recycling collector for single-family homes and duplexes, and it also serves some multifamily properties.

Service Container How often
Garbage Gray roll cart, 96, 64 or 48 gallons Weekly
Recycling Blue roll cart, 96, 64 or 48 gallons Weekly, same day and same spot as garbage
Brush and bulky items Pile behind the curb, up to 10 cubic yards Monthly, in your collection week
  • Carts go out by 7 a.m. on collection day, no earlier than 6 p.m. the evening before, and come back in by 8 a.m. the day after.
  • Face the cart toward the street or alley with the handle toward the house. Leave 3 feet on each side and 1.5 feet behind it clear of fences, meters, poles, trees and other carts. Nothing may block it, including parked cars and low tree limbs.
  • Bag garbage inside the cart; no bags on top of or beside it. Recyclables go in loose.
  • The garbage cart refuses hot ashes, yard debris, concrete, rocks, dirt, clothing, large pieces of metal, construction debris and household hazardous waste such as batteries, oil, cleaning products, paint and antifreeze.
  • Service is from the curb in front of the home, or from an alley where the city allows it. The city has temporarily paused its plan to move alley service to the curb, which was set to start in January 2026.
  • Apartments and businesses can buy city cart service, up to 10 garbage and 10 recycling carts, or use a private hauler that holds a Dallas franchise.

What goes in the Dallas recycling cart

All recyclables go in the blue cart together, loose, never in a bag. A quick rinse is enough. The Dallas Sanitation app has a waste search tool for single items, and the Residential Recycling page ↗ shows what goes in the cart.

  • Yes: mixed paper such as newspapers, magazines, junk mail, office paper and window envelopes; flattened cardboard, cereal boxes and paper egg cartons; refrigerated and shelf-stable cartons; glass bottles and jars of any color; plastic bottles and containers numbered 1 to 7; aluminum, tin and steel cans.
  • Pizza boxes: the city’s resident guide says they are recyclable once you tear off the part with the cheese. See pizza boxes.
  • Caps and lids: keep plastic caps on the bottle. Put metal lids from glass jars in the cart on their own.
  • Size: paper must be bigger than a postcard, and plastic bigger than 2 inches but no larger than a one-gallon container.
  • No: plastic bags and film (take them to a retailer), foam and packing peanuts, plastic utensils, shredded paper, waxed cardboard, cereal box liners, chemical containers, window glass, mirrors, ceramics, Pyrex, light bulbs, metal hangers, wires and cables, car parts and electronics.
  • Put broken glass in a paper bag before it goes in the cart.

Foam can go in the garbage cart. Clothes and shoes, even torn ones, go to Goodwill, the Salvation Army or a thrift store; clothing is not allowed in the garbage cart. Metal hangers go back to dry cleaners, and wires and cables go to a transfer station or the landfill. Apartment residents can use the city’s community recycling containers, most of them open 24 hours a day; the drop-off locations page ↗ has the map.

Yard waste and food scraps

Yard debris is not allowed in the garbage cart. Brush and other vegetative waste go out with the monthly brush and bulky collection, just behind the curb, in the same 10-cubic-yard limit. Residents can also haul grass clippings and brush free to McCommas Bluff Landfill or any of the three transfer stations. Dirt, soil and sod are refused at the curb.

For food scraps, the city’s Composting Food Waste page ↗ points residents to backyard compost bins, worm bins and bokashi, and lists what can go in: fruit and vegetable scraps, eggshells, coffee grounds, leaves and shredded paper, but no meat, dairy, grease or pet waste.

After Christmas, natural Christmas trees go free to McCommas Bluff Landfill (several per household) or a transfer station (one per household) to be mulched; last season ran December 26 to January 24. Remove decorations, tinsel and lights, and do not bag or wrap the tree. Trees set out with brush and bulky collection generally cannot be recycled, and artificial trees are not recyclable.

Bulk trash pickup in Dallas

Brush and bulky item collection comes once a month for residential customers, in the collection week shown on your calendar. Look up your collection week on the Collection Schedules page ↗; the Brush and Bulky Item Collection page ↗ has the 2026 calendar.

  • When: set the pile out Thursday to Sunday before your collection week, which starts on a Monday.
  • Where: just behind the curb in front of your home. Not in the street, on the sidewalk or anywhere that blocks traffic or cart collection.
  • How much: up to 10 cubic yards a month. Once per calendar year you can ask for up to 20 cubic yards online, in the Dallas 311 app or by calling 311, in the week before your collection week and by 11:59 p.m. the Sunday before it. That request cannot be cancelled.
  • Taken: vegetative waste and household items too large for the roll cart.
  • Refused: bagged household garbage that would fit in the cart; business waste; construction debris such as bricks, rock, asphalt, concrete, glass panes, mirrors and anything with protruding nails; auto parts and tires; dirt, soil and sod; electronics; roofing and shingles; paint and chemicals; appliances with coolant or gas, such as air conditioners, refrigerators, freezers, dehumidifiers and lawnmowers.
  • Charges: oversize piles, or piles with refused items, are usually collected and billed at $60 per 5 cubic yards, in 5-cubic-yard steps, on the city utility bill. Early, oversize and noncompliant piles can also get a citation. Contest a charge on the charge dispute page ↗.

An orange tag on a pile means a violation that must be fixed before crews take it. Work done by a contractor should be hauled away by the contractor.

Dallas holiday trash schedule

For many city holidays, garbage, recycling and brush and bulky collection continue without interruption. When a holiday does change service, Sanitation Services posts a holiday collection advisory on its homepage ↗.

Hazardous waste, electronics and drop-off sites

Household hazardous waste goes to the Dallas County Home Chemical Collection Center, free for Dallas residents.

  • Dallas County Home Chemical Collection Center, 11234 Plano Road, Dallas, TX 75243, one mile north of LBJ Freeway (I-635); 214-553-1765. Tuesday 9 a.m. to 7:30 p.m., Wednesday and Thursday 8:30 a.m. to 5 p.m., and the 2nd and 4th Saturday of each month 9 a.m. to 3 p.m. Closed Sunday, Monday and Friday. Bring a driver’s license and a water or other utility bill as proof of address. Residents of cities outside the program pay at least $100. It takes home chemicals, paint and home repair products, lawn and garden chemicals, aerosol sprays, pool chemicals, craft and hobby supplies, cleaners and polishes, batteries of all kinds, automotive fluids and oil filters, fluorescent tubes, computers and cell phones. It refuses business waste, containers over 5 gallons, ammunition, smoke detectors, medical waste, medicines, appliances and TVs.
  • BOPA mobile collection: Saturday events, 7 to 11 a.m., at a transfer station or Eco Park, take only batteries, oil, paint and antifreeze. Limits are 25 gallons of material other than batteries and 50 pounds of batteries per household per day, no container over 5 gallons, and proof of residence in a member city. The Household Hazardous Chemicals page ↗ lists the dates.

Dallas residents drop off electronics, from computers and TVs to phones, printers and microwaves, free at the landfill and all three transfer stations; URT, an e-Stewards certified recycler, processes them.

Disposal sites are free for Dallas residents hauling their own household waste in a car, station wagon or pickup, or with a trailer under 15 feet. Bring a valid driver’s license and proof of Dallas residency: a Dallas address on your ID or a current Dallas water bill in your name.

  • McCommas Bluff Landfill, 5100 Youngblood Road; 214-670-0977. Monday to Friday 5 a.m. to 8 p.m., Saturday 6 a.m. to 4 p.m., closed Sunday. Open to residents and commercial customers. Takes household waste, grass clippings and brush, furniture, appliances with refrigerant removed, and tires. Loads of loose material must be covered.
  • Northwest (Bachman) Transfer Station, 9500 Harry Hines Boulevard; 214-670-6161. Monday to Saturday 7 a.m. to 4:30 p.m., closed Sunday. Dallas residents and small commercial customers only.
  • Northeast (Fair Oaks) Transfer Station, 7677 Fair Oaks Avenue; 214-670-6126. Monday to Friday 7 a.m. to 9 a.m., Saturday 7 a.m. to 4 p.m., closed Sunday. Dallas residents only.
  • Southwest (Westmoreland) Transfer Station, 4610 S. Westmoreland Road; 214-670-1927. Monday to Friday 7 a.m. to 9 a.m., Saturday 7 a.m. to 4 p.m., closed Sunday. Dallas residents only.
  • All three transfer stations take recyclables, electronics, grass clippings and brush, scrap metal, household waste and furniture. They refuse refrigerators, freezers, AC units, rocks, bricks, concrete, dirt, and paint or other hazardous waste.
  • Tires: Dallas residents may bring six a year, each no more than 25 inches across, to the landfill or a transfer station.

Fees and billing

Extra sanitation charges, such as brush and bulky fees, the $25 missed-collection fee and the recycling cart fee, are billed to your City of Dallas utility account. The FY 2026-27 budget splits the residential rate into curb and alley rates from February 1, 2027, to cut the alley costs now built into the rate paid by about 160,000 curbside customers.

Charge Through September 30, 2026 From October 1, 2026 From February 1, 2027
Residential service, curb $40.09 a month $40.09 a month $37.76 a month
Residential service, alley $40.09 a month $40.09 a month $45.22 a month
Each extra garbage cart $15.51 a month $16.29 a month $16.29 a month
Third and later recycling carts $50 each, one time $50 each, one time $50 each, one time

The city’s rate table marks these charges as subject to 8.25% sales tax. A second recycling cart is free.

Missed pickup, damaged carts and new carts

If a cart is not emptied by 8 p.m. on your collection day, report it through a Dallas 311 service request ↗ or by calling 311, and leave the cart at the collection point until the crew comes. A cart set out late waits until the next week, and a cart with an orange tag has a violation to fix before the next service day. If truck cameras show the cart was not out on time or broke the rules, the city may charge $25 for garbage and $25 for recycling to your utility account.

The same service request site orders extra garbage carts, free recycling carts and repairs. The city repairs minor damage from normal use. A cart damaged by abuse or neglect is replaced at the owner’s cost: $67.90 on the garbage cart page and $70.81 on the recycling cart page. If a request is not resolved in the time you were given, contact the Sanitation Director’s Office at 214-670-3555 or SanitationDirector@dallas.gov; staff reply within 72 hours.

Materials with their own rules

  • Mattresses
  • Household hazardous waste: free at the Dallas County Home Chemical Collection Center on Plano Road.
  • Lithium-ion batteries: never in the gray cart; the Home Chemical Collection Center takes batteries of all kinds.
  • Paint: Home Chemical Collection Center or a BOPA event, never in a brush and bulky pile.
  • Pizza boxes: recyclable once the cheesy part is torn off.
  • Christmas trees: natural trees go free to the landfill or a transfer station after Christmas for mulching.
  • Tires: six a year, up to 25 inches across, free at the landfill or a transfer station.
  • Aerosol cans and propane tanks: aerosol sprays go to the Home Chemical Collection Center.

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