El Paso trash pickup: collection days, recycling and bulk waste rules.
El Paso trash pickup is run by the City of El Paso Environmental Services Department. The gray trash bin goes once a week, and the blue recycling bin goes every other week on the same day. My Collection Day shows both for your address. What trips people up most: glass, plastic bags, pizza boxes and yard waste never go in the blue bin, and a large item needs a paid special pickup or a trip to a collection station.
- Who collects: City of El Paso Environmental Services Department ↗, for residential customers inside city limits, billed on the El Paso Water bill
- Your pickup day: depends on your address; My Collection Day ↗ or the collection calendar ↗, with iOS and Android apps linked from the lookup
- Holiday changes: in the 2025-26 season, no collection on the Thursday and Friday of Thanksgiving, Christmas and New Year’s, with a gray-bin make-up day announced in a city news release
- Missed pickup: use Report a Problem on My Collection Day ↗, call 311 or 915-212-6000; a blue bin still full at 3 p.m. on your day, call 915-212-6000
- Contact: Environmental Services 915-212-6000, or 311
- Official website: City of El Paso: Environmental Services ↗
Photo: El Paso seen from Scenic Drive, with Ciudad Juárez in the background. Lechhansl (German Wikipedia), 2004-06. CC BY-SA 3.0 · Source. Resized for web.
El Paso trash and recycling pickup schedule
Environmental Services collects household trash and curbside recycling for homes in the city and runs the Greater El Paso Landfill and five Citizen Collection Stations. El Paso Water does the billing, but it only sends the bill: questions about carts and service go to Environmental Services at 915-212-6000.
| Bin | What goes in it | How often |
|---|---|---|
| Gray | Household trash, in secured plastic bags | Once a week |
| Blue | Recyclables, loose | Every other week, on your gray bin day |
| No bin | Furniture, appliances, brush and other bulky items | Paid special pickup, or drop-off at a collection station |
- The city code has you set bins out after 6 p.m. the evening before your collection day and before 5 a.m. on the day, and bring them back by 7 p.m.
- Face each bin toward the street, with the lid opening toward the street and closed. Keep bins 3 feet apart and 5 feet from mailboxes, fences, walls, water meters, parked cars, low trees and anything else in the way.
- Put the blue bin next to the gray bin on your day. A bin with its contents may weigh no more than 150 pounds.
- Trash goes in the gray bin in secured plastic bags; nothing is collected from outside the bin.
- Household hazardous waste, and heavy material such as sand, gravel, bricks, rock, concrete and tree stumps, are banned from both bins.
- Residents who cannot roll bins to the curb can apply for side door collection. The applicant must live alone, be the primary water account holder and have only one gray and one blue bin. The city code sets a July 31 deadline each year for the request. It cannot be combined with the senior and disability discount.
My Collection Day also shows your recycling weeks, lets you print a calendar and links the Report a Problem form and the Citizen Collection Station pass. The same days are on the city’s 311 collection calendar ↗.
What goes in the El Paso recycling cart
The blue bin takes clean, dry, empty items, loose. Rinse off food and liquid first. For one item, type it into the ESD Recycling Helper ↗, which also answers whether it goes to a collection station.
- Paper: newspapers and inserts (bags and strings removed), junk mail and envelopes, office paper, white and colored paper, paperback books, hardback books with the covers torn off, magazines, catalogs and phone books, wrapping paper without foil or glitter, paper bags (five or six packed inside one bag), unused paper cups and plates, construction paper, postcards, heavy folders and greeting cards.
- Cardboard: boxes cut up and flattened with the foam and packing peanuts out, cereal and dry food boxes without the liner, cardboard egg cartons, tissue boxes, paper towel and toilet paper rolls, toothpaste, shoe, gift and cracker boxes.
- Plastic: containers marked #1 and #2 only.
- Metal: aluminum soda cans and food cans with their lids, free of food and liquid.
- Not in the blue bin: glass of any kind; plastic bags, film and Styrofoam; pizza boxes; food and liquids; textiles; yard waste; wires, hoses and other tanglers; electronics; anything in a bag.
Electronics go to a Citizen Collection Station or the landfill, never a bin. Recyclables can also be dropped at any collection station, and no water bill is needed for recyclables alone.
Yard waste and food scraps
El Paso has no curbside yard waste or compost bin, and the recycling list rules out yard waste and food in the blue bin. Brush, tree trunks, branches and other green waste are taken on a paid special pickup (see bulk pickup below). Bundles set out for collection may be no longer than 5 feet and no heavier than 60 pounds each.
- Free mulch is available all year at the Citizen Collection Stations, open to anyone. Call 915-212-6000 for details.
- The stations lend lawnmowers, rakes, shovels and brooms through the Community Tool Shed, free to El Paso residents 18 and older with a valid ID.
- Turkey grease and cooking oil can go to any collection station for free, without a water bill.
- After Christmas 2025, the city took live holiday trees free at every collection station from December 27, stripped of ornaments, lights, frost and glitter, with no water bill needed.
Bulk trash pickup in El Paso
El Paso does not run a free bulk day at the curb. Call Environmental Services at 915-212-6000, Monday to Friday 7 a.m. to 2 p.m., to book a fee-based special pickup, or take the items yourself to a Citizen Collection Station or the Greater El Paso Landfill.
- Cost: $35 for 5 cubic yards or less, plus $7 for each additional cubic yard, plus tax, billed to your El Paso Water account.
- Taken: empty appliances; barbecues with the fuel and charcoal removed; brush, tree trunks, branches and other green waste; carpet, doors, furniture, lumber and pallets; lawnmowers with the fuel and oil drained; mattresses and box springs.
- Not taken: anything with a title (car frames, motorcycles, trailers, boats); commercial or industrial material; gas or air cylinders; recyclables; dirt, rocks and concrete; tires and hazardous materials; used electronics.
- Set the items at the curb in front of your home by 6 a.m. on the scheduled day, clear of the sidewalk and traffic and at least 5 feet from your bins, mailbox, fence, wall, water meter, telephone box, parked cars and low trees.
- The Country Store inside the Eastside station, at 3510 Confederate Drive, takes and gives away usable appliances, furniture, toys and bikes, up to five items a month per household.
El Paso holiday trash schedule
Environmental Services announces each holiday change in a city news release shortly before the holiday. In the 2025-26 season, Thanksgiving, Christmas and New Year’s each cost the Thursday and Friday of the holiday week: neither bin was collected, one make-up day took gray bins only, and blue bins waited for the next regular recycling day. The Greater El Paso Landfill and the collection stations closed on those days too.
| Holiday | Date | What the city did last season |
|---|---|---|
| Thanksgiving | Thursday, November 26, 2026 | 2025: no gray or blue collection Thursday and Friday; gray bins collected the next Monday |
| Christmas | Friday, December 25, 2026 | 2025: no collection December 25 and 26; gray bins collected Saturday, December 27 |
| New Year’s Day | Friday, January 1, 2027 | 2026: no collection January 1 and 2; gray bins collected Saturday, January 3 |
The Citizen Collection Stations are closed on New Year’s Day, July 4, Thanksgiving, Christmas Day and New Year’s Eve, and may close or change hours in wind, rain or snow; call 915-212-6000 to check. Check your own days on My Collection Day ↗ before each holiday.
Hazardous waste, electronics and drop-off sites
Household hazardous waste goes to one of the five Citizen Collection Stations, never in a bin. The stations also take household trash, bulky items, recyclables and used electronics from El Paso residents; businesses and contractors cannot use them.
- Before you go: request a Citizen Collection Station pass through My Collection Day ↗. Every visitor, active-duty military and veterans included, shows a current water bill and a valid ID with the same address.
- Limits: four visits a month; 5 gallons of paint and motor oil a month; single-axle trailers no longer than 8 feet. No construction or demolition material, from a home or a business.
- Electronics: TVs, cameras, radios, music players, phones and fax machines, VCR and DVD players, computers, monitors, keyboards, scanners, printers, copiers and webcams go to a station or the landfill. Commercial electronics and leaking items are refused.
- Free to take: reusable paint in 5-gallon containers (colors are mixed, up to 5 gallons a visit, with a request form), reusable household products left in their original containers (up to ten per customer, with ID and signature) and mulch.
Drop-off sites, all open Tuesday to Saturday, 8 a.m. to 4 p.m.:
- Northeast Citizen Collection Station, 4501 Hondo Pass Dr, El Paso, TX 79924.
- Central Citizen Collection Station, 2492 Harrison Ave, El Paso, TX 79930.
- Westside Citizen Collection Station, 121 Atlantic Rd, El Paso, TX 79922.
- Mission Valley Citizen Collection Station, 1034 Pendale Rd, El Paso, TX 79907.
- Eastside Citizen Collection Station, 3500-3516 Confederate Dr, El Paso, TX 79936, home of the Country Store.
The Greater El Paso Landfill is at 2600 Darrington Rd, Clint, TX 79928, open Monday to Saturday 7 a.m. to 4 p.m. and closed Sunday. Haulers need a city hauler permit to deliver loads. The landfill refuses gasoline, antifreeze, motor oil, used oil filters and lead-acid batteries, liquid waste, PCB items such as transformers and ballasts, regulated hazardous or radioactive waste and regulated asbestos; it does take used electronics.
Fees and billing
El Paso Water bills solid waste charges for Environmental Services on the water bill, and Environmental Services answers questions about them at 915-212-6000. The department’s posted service charges, plus tax:
| Service | Fee |
|---|---|
| Special pickup, up to 5 cubic yards | $35 |
| Each additional cubic yard | $7 |
| Extra lift | $10 |
| Go-back fee | $15 |
| Container delivery | $25 |
| Burnt or damaged container replacement | $58 |
| Dead animal pickup, pet | $40 |
- Residents 65 or older, or certified 100 percent disabled by the Social Security Administration, the Veterans Administration or a public disability pension, can apply for a discount on the monthly solid waste fee if they are the primary water account holder at the address.
- A dead pet is picked up for $40 on request through 915-212-6000 or 311, Monday to Saturday 7 a.m. to 2 p.m.; bag it and leave it at the edge of the curb. Farm animals inside the city cost $150.
Missed pickup, damaged carts and new carts
If the blue bin has not been emptied by 3 p.m. on your collection day, call 915-212-6000 for an update. Report a missed gray bin or request a bin through Report a Problem on My Collection Day ↗, through 311, or at 915-212-6000; the lookup also shows the status of a work order. A go-back collection costs $15 on the water bill; the bin must be at the curb facing the street with the lid closed, and it is collected by 5 p.m. on the go-back date. A new container delivered costs $25, and a burnt or damaged container is replaced for $58.
Set-out rules and fines
- Bins go out after 6 p.m. the night before and before 5 a.m. on collection day, and come in by 7 p.m.
- Only trash from your own home goes in your gray bin and only recyclables from your home in your blue bin; a bin may weigh no more than 150 pounds.
- A corner home sets its bins out only on the street of its address, never on a neighbor’s property.
- The city code lets the city charge a set noncompliance fee to an account that breaks the bin rules.
- Collection station users may bring only waste from their own home, and the city can check that they are still eligible.
- Report illegal dumping and litter to 311 or online.
Materials with their own rules
- Household hazardous waste: any Citizen Collection Station, with a pass, water bill and matching ID.
- Paint: up to 5 gallons of paint and motor oil a month at a station; free reusable paint is available there too.
- Mattresses: a paid special pickup, or a station as a bulky item.
- Pizza boxes: on the city’s not-recyclable list, so they stay out of the blue bin.
- Christmas trees: after Christmas 2025 every station took live trees free from December 27, stripped of decorations.
- Tires: not taken on a special pickup.