Wisconsin 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, Milwaukee, Madison and Green Bay collect curbside themselves. Wisconsin 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 Wisconsin cities and their official collection pages:
- Milwaukee: City of Milwaukee Department of Public Works, Sanitation Services. Sanitation collects garbage and household recyclables from about 190,000 households of one to four units: garbage weekly and recycling every other week, with schedules shifting after city holidays. Official page ↗ Look up your collection day ↗
- Madison: City of Madison Streets Division (Streets & Urban Forestry). Trash goes in the tan cart and is collected every week, and recycling goes in the green cart and is collected every other week. Official page ↗
- Green Bay: City of Green Bay Department of Public Works (Operations Division, Sanitation Section). One 96-gallon city-issued trash cart per residential unit is collected once per week, and the Sanitation Routes Map shows your collection day. Official page ↗
Missing your city? Suggest a City.
Who collects in Wisconsin
- Curbside recycling collection is required by law in communities with populations over 5,000 and population densities of at least 70 persons per square mile; smaller or less dense communities may use drop-off centers instead. Source ↗
- About 1,060 local government responsible units implement and enforce municipal recycling programs across the state, and the DNR can issue citations for violating the disposal bans. Source ↗
- Appliances, electronics, tires, lead-acid batteries, used oil and used oil filters are all banned from landfills and incinerators statewide, in addition to bottles, cans and paper. 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 Wisconsin is not among them. Source ↗
- Paint: Not a PaintCare state. PaintCare lists the twelve states plus the District of Columbia where it operates, and Wisconsin 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 Wisconsin has no state mattress stewardship program. See mattresses. Source ↗
- Electronics: It is illegal to throw away certain electronics in Wisconsin, and E-Cycle Wisconsin is a manufacturer-funded statewide program that collects and recycles electronics used by households and K-12 schools. Source ↗
- Yard waste: Banned from landfills statewide. Yard waste, including grass clippings, leaves, yard and garden debris and brush under six inches in diameter, is banned from landfill and incinerator disposal but may go to an approved compost facility. Source ↗
State agency
- State agency: Wisconsin Department of Natural Resources - Waste & Materials Management Program. It administers Wisconsin’s comprehensive recycling law, enforces the landfill and incineration bans on specified materials, and oversees the local government responsible units that run municipal recycling programs. Official website ↗
- Find your local program: Find your responsible unit recycling program ↗
- Contact: 1-888-936-7463
Flag of Wisconsin. Public-domain artwork. 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
Illinois · Iowa · Michigan · Minnesota
Sources
Official pages used: dnr.wisconsin.gov · dnr.wisconsin.gov · city.milwaukee.gov · city.milwaukee.gov · cityofmadison.com · greenbaywi.gov · greenbaywi.gov · cga.ct.gov · paintcare.org · mattressrecyclingcouncil.org · dnr.wisconsin.gov · dnr.wisconsin.gov · dnr.wisconsin.gov.
Back to all states.