Washington, DC Trash Pickup Schedule & Recycling Rules

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

The DC trash pickup schedule is set by the DC Department of Public Works for single-family homes and buildings of three or fewer units. Most homes get trash once a week in a 96-gallon Supercan; homes on narrow streets and alleys get trash twice a week. Recycling goes once a week. DPW’s Collection Day App gives your days. What trips people up: buildings of four or more units, condos and co-ops get no DPW service.

• Who collects: DC Department of Public Works (DPW), for trash and recycling at homes and buildings of up to three units.
• Your pickup day: depends on your address. Collection Day App ↗; the Collection Status Map ↗ shows if your route is late.
• Holiday changes: collection slides one day for the rest of the week, through Saturday. Slide Guide ↗
• Missed pickup: not collected by 7 p.m. and no delay shown? Report it to 311. 311.dc.gov ↗
• Contact: 311 or (202) 737-4404; DPW (202) 673-6833, dpw@dc.gov
• Official website: dpw.dc.gov ↗

Photo: Washington Monument and Jefferson Memorial across the Tidal Basin. Daniel J Simanek, 2009-07-14. CC BY-SA 3.0 · Source. Resized for web.

How the DC pickup schedule works

DPW collects trash and recycling from single-family homes and buildings with three or fewer living units. Once-a-week collection covers Wards 3, 4, 5, 7 and 8 and parts of Wards 1 and 2; homes on narrow streets and alleys in Wards 2 and 6 and parts of Ward 1 get trash twice a week, Monday and Thursday or Tuesday and Friday. Trash and recycling days are not always the same, so look up both.

• Set-out: no earlier than 6:30 p.m. the night before and no later than 6 a.m. Take bins back off public space by 8 p.m.
• Filling: trash goes in a plastic bag inside a green bin with a tight lid. Recyclables go loose; a paper bag is fine, a plastic one is not.
• Late routes: routes on schedule finish by 7 p.m. If the status map says Delayed or Carried over, leave your cart out and do not take it in and set it out again.
• Not served: buildings of four or more units, mixed-use and commercial properties hire a private hauler. The app still returns a day for them, but DPW does not collect there.

What goes in the DC recycling bin

Everything goes loose in one recycling bin, clean and empty, under the Mayor’s List of Recyclables. Check single items in Zero Waste DC’s What Goes Where? tool ↗.

• Yes:
  • flattened cardboard
  • delivery pizza boxes
  • paper cups and containers
  • food and drink cartons
  • newspapers, magazines and books
  • junk mail and office paper
  • plastic cups, containers, bottles and lids
  • bulky plastics
  • steel and aluminum cans and containers
  • glass bottles and jars
  • shredded paper in a paper bag stapled shut
• No:
  • plastic bags, wraps and film of any color, size or shape
  • foam, Styrofoam and packing peanuts
  • straws and utensils
  • paint cans
  • window glass and ceramics
  • tissues

Plastic bags and film never go in the bin; see how to recycle plastic bags for store drop-off.

Yard waste, leaves and food scraps in DC

Yard waste goes by 311 appointment: up to 20 paper bags, one appointment every eight days. Leaves, grass clippings, weeds, twigs, pinecones and uprooted plants are taken; tie branches in bundles no more than 4 feet long and 24 inches in diameter. Plastic bags, stumps, dirt, rocks and broken pottery are refused. Yard waste can also go to Fort Totten during its hours.

Leaves are vacuumed from tree boxes. DPW splits each ward into sections A to D, collects each section twice and posts every Friday which sections rake out next. Rake leaves into the tree box, or to the curb where there is none, on the Sunday before your section’s week; bagged leaves must be in paper bags. There is no leaf collection on Thanksgiving, Christmas or New Year’s Day. Find your section on the leaf collection page ↗ or call the Leaf Line, (202) 671-5323. More in the leaves guide.

Food scraps: DPW’s Food Waste Collection Program ↗ grew from 9,000 to 12,000 households in fiscal 2026 and now adds households from a waitlist, with priority for low-income and disadvantaged communities. Anyone can use the free food waste drop-off ↗: 24-hour Smart Bins, opened with the metroKEY app or a keypad code, in every Advisory Neighborhood Commission, and 13 staffed weekend drop-offs at farmers markets and community sites, at least one in each ward, now year-round.

Bulk trash pickup in DC

Book through 311 first. DPW takes no more than seven items per appointment, set out where your trash goes between 6:30 p.m. the night before and 6 a.m.; bulk items left out at any other time can be ticketed. Wrap toilets in plastic and tape them shut.

• Accepted:
  • household furniture
  • refrigerators and other major appliances, doors removed
  • air conditioners, drained
  • hot water heaters
  • mattresses and box springs wrapped in plastic
  • bed frames
  • rugs, rolled and tied
  • large toys such as kiddie pools, playhouses and disassembled swing sets
• Refused:
  • bricks, concrete, ceiling tile, drywall, dirt and other renovation debris
  • electronics and TVs
  • hazardous or liquid waste
  • tires
  • tree stumps
  • bagged trash
  • old trash and recycling bins
  • yard waste
  • wooden pallets

Up to four tires go to Fort Totten on Wednesday, Thursday and Friday, 10 a.m. to 2 p.m. only.

DC holiday trash schedule

When a holiday falls on a collection day, trash, recycling and food waste routes move to the next day for the rest of the week, through Saturday. In twice-a-week areas, Monday slides to Tuesday and Thursday to Friday; Tuesday slides to Wednesday and Friday to Saturday.

Hazardous waste, electronics and drop-off sites in DC

Hazardous waste, electronics and papers for shredding go to DPW’s free Special Waste Collection Events, for DC residents only, with proof of residency and a free Eventbrite registration for a 30-minute arrival window; no entry after 2 p.m. Dates and sites are posted on the special waste page ↗. Events take paint, auto fluids, motor oil and fuel, antifreeze, cooking oil, bleach, pool chemicals, poisons, household fire extinguishers, all light bulbs, batteries, propane tanks up to 20 pounds, computers, TVs, phones, tobacco vapes and up to five boxes of documents.

• Fort Totten Transfer Station, 4900 John McCormack Rd NE. Tuesday to Friday 10 a.m. to 2 p.m., Saturday 7 a.m. to 2 p.m.; closed Monday. DC residents only: DC driver’s license, or another state’s photo ID plus a utility bill from the last 30 days, lease or deed in the same name. Cars, pickups, SUVs, passenger vans and rentals under 15 feet; no trailers, cargo vans, ladder racks or commercial tags. Takes bulk items (mattresses need not be wrapped), major appliances, trash, recycling, yard waste and pallets, plus free mulch, up to five 32-gallon bags you fill yourself. No hazardous waste, electronics, food waste, construction debris or auto parts.
• Benning Road Transfer Station is closed until further notice.
• Batteries: The Battery Network’s retail drop-offs; from August through December 2026, select weekend food waste drop-offs also take household batteries up to 11 pounds.

District-level rules

DPW collects and enforces sanitation rules. The Department of Energy and Environment (DOEE), (202) 535-2600, runs product stewardship, the bag fee and the foam ban.

• Container deposit: none; bottles and cans go in the recycling bin. Bill 26-58, introduced in January 2025, would add a 10-cent deposit. Source ↗
• Paint: under the Paint Stewardship Act of 2014, PaintCare has run free drop-off sites since November 1, 2016, funded by a fee on paint; (855) 724-6809. Source ↗
• Electronics: covered electronics are banned from the trash; eCYCLE DC makes manufacturers offer store and mail-back recycling. Source ↗
• Batteries: The Battery Network’s stewardship program takes household batteries free. Source ↗
• Mattresses: bulk pickup, wrapped in plastic. Source ↗
• Bag fee: 5 cents per disposable bag at businesses that sell food or alcohol. Source ↗
• Foam ban: food businesses may not serve in foam, and stores may not sell foam food ware, coolers or packing peanuts. Source ↗

Fees and billing

DPW-served homes pay no separate trash fee. Containers cost extra, by card online or by check or money order to the DC Treasurer:

New homeowners who moved in within the previous 90 days and found no containers, or containers damaged beyond repair, get them free by sending DPW the deed or settlement letter.

Missed pickup, damaged carts and new carts

1. Rule out a holiday slide with the Slide Guide.
2. Check the Collection Status Map: if your route shows Delayed or Carried over, leave the cart out.
3. If nothing was collected by 7 p.m. on your day and the map shows no delay, report it to 311 or at 311.dc.gov.

A missed food waste pickup is reported to 311 if the bin was not emptied by 4 p.m. Lid, lift bar and wheel repairs go through 311 too; DPW repairs containers whose serial numbers start with W or R, not DC, and gives no free replacements.

Set-out rules and fines in DC

DPW’s SWEEP inspectors write sanitation tickets. Residential violations, such as a container out at the wrong time or place, a container without a tight-fitting lid or improperly disposed bulk waste, cost $75 for a first offense within 60 days, then $150, $300 and $1,000.

Materials with their own rules

• Household batteries: free at Battery Network drop-offs, select weekend food waste drop-offs or a Special Waste event.
• Lithium-ion batteries: tape the terminals; retail drop-off or a Special Waste event.
• Vapes and e-cigarettes: tobacco vapes go to a Special Waste event.
• Light bulbs: CFLs, fluorescent tubes and LEDs at Special Waste events.
• Old TVs and computers: banned from the trash; eCYCLE DC or a Special Waste event.
• Paint: PaintCare sites or a Special Waste event.
• Household hazardous waste: Special Waste events only.
• Used motor oil, antifreeze and old gasoline: Special Waste events.
• Acetone and bleach: bleach and household cleaners at Special Waste events.
• Fire extinguishers: household sizes at Special Waste events.
• Cooking oil and grease: Special Waste events, never the drain.
• Aerosol cans and propane tanks: propane tanks up to 20 pounds to Special Waste events.
• Needles and sharps: DC has no needle program; DPW’s steps for a sealed, labeled container.
• Old medication: take-back sites, never the toilet.
• Refrigerators and freezers: bulk pickup with the doors removed, or Fort Totten.
• Microwaves: Fort Totten or a bulk appointment, not Special Waste events.
• Mattresses: bulk pickup wrapped in plastic, or Fort Totten.
• Tires: up to four at Fort Totten, Wednesday to Friday.
• Leaves: vacuum collection by section, or paper bags.
• Pizza boxes, shredded paper, Styrofoam and plastic bags: see the recycling list above.

Nearby

• Maryland trash pickup and state rules
• Virginia trash pickup and state rules
• Holiday changes by city
• Bulk pickup rules by city
• Missed pickup contacts by city
• Trash fees by city
• Drop-off locations by city