West Virginia trash pickup is run by cities, counties and private haulers, not by the state.
Your pickup day comes from your city’s or hauler’s own lookup. Among the largest cities, Charleston and Huntington collect curbside themselves; Morgantown contracts a private hauler. West Virginia has an electronics recycling law and a ban on yard waste in landfills, but no statewide bottle deposit, PaintCare paint or mattress program.
Find your city
The largest West Virginia cities and their official collection pages:
- Charleston: City of Charleston Refuse and Recycling Department (Public Works). Recyclables may be co-mingled but not mixed with garbage or food, and must be placed in sealed or closed containers at the curb on your weekly scheduled trash pick-up day. Official page ↗
- Huntington: City of Huntington Department of Public Works, Sanitation and Trash Division. The Sanitation and Trash Division provides weekly curbside refuse pickup on seven daily routes, while curbside recycling is a separate voluntary subscription program collected every two weeks by Rumpke Waste and Recycling. Official page ↗
- Morgantown: City of Morgantown (trash and recycling collection contracted to Republic Services). The city uses Republic Services for trash and recycling pickup, with a grey 95-gallon cart for trash and a green cart for unbagged single-stream recycling. Official page ↗
Missing your city? Suggest a City.
Who collects in West Virginia
- State law requires each municipality with a population of 10,000 or more to run a source separation and curbside collection program for recyclable materials, collected at least once per month. Source ↗
- Each person occupying a residence must either subscribe to and pay for a solid waste collection service or provide proof of proper disposal at an approved facility at least once every thirty days. Source ↗
- WVDEP’s Materials Recycling Directory lets residents search by zip code for commercial recycling centers, community drop-off programs and scrap metal handlers near them. Source ↗
National haulers (Republic Services, WM, Waste Connections) hold contracts in many places; the city or county names the hauler for each street.
State-level rules
- Container deposit: No statewide container deposit law. An October 2024 Connecticut Office of Legislative Research issue brief names all ten bottle bill states (California, Connecticut, Hawaii, Iowa, Maine, Massachusetts, Michigan, New York, Oregon and Vermont), and West Virginia is not among them. Source ↗
- Paint: Not a PaintCare state. PaintCare lists the twelve states plus the District of Columbia where it operates, and West Virginia is not among them. Leftover paint goes through the local household hazardous waste program; see paint. Source ↗
- Mattresses: No statewide mattress take-back program. The Mattress Recycling Council says its Bye Bye Mattress program operates statewide only in California, Connecticut, Oregon and Rhode Island, so West Virginia has no state mattress stewardship program. See mattresses. Source ↗
- Electronics: Senate Bill 746 requires manufacturers of covered electronic devices to register with WVDEP and report any free takeback program, but House Bill 4540 removed the statewide landfill ban on covered electronics and instead lets county or regional solid waste authorities prohibit their disposal where a cost-effective recycling alternative exists. Source ↗
- Yard waste: Banned from landfills statewide. West Virginia Code §22-15A-22, subsection c, makes it unlawful to dispose of yard waste in a solid waste facility, except at facilities designed to compost, recycle or reuse it and under limited exceptions in the Secretary’s rules. Source ↗
State agency
- State agency: West Virginia Department of Environmental Protection - Rehabilitation Environmental Action Plan (REAP), Recycling Section. REAP promotes community recycling and waste reduction, publishes the statewide recycling directory and runs the Covered Electronic Devices takeback and recycling grant programs, while WVDEP’s Solid Waste Program permits landfills and transfer stations. Official website ↗
- Find your local program: WV Recycling Directory (Solid Waste Management Board) ↗
- Contact: 1-800-322-5530
Flag of West Virginia. Public-domain artwork. Artwork: Militaryace, Denelson83. Source. Resized to 480 pixels wide.
Materials with their own rules
Paint · Lithium-ion batteries · Household hazardous waste · Mattresses · Pizza boxes · Christmas trees
Neighboring states
Kentucky · Maryland · Ohio · Pennsylvania · Virginia
Sources
Official pages used: dep.wv.gov · swmb.wv.gov · charlestonwv.gov · cityofhuntington.com · cityofhuntington.com · morgantownwv.gov · cga.ct.gov · paintcare.org · mattressrecyclingcouncil.org · dep.wv.gov · code.wvlegislature.gov · code.wvlegislature.gov · code.wvlegislature.gov.
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