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Houston Trash Pickup Schedule

This Houston trash pickup schedule covers a city whose collection system runs on two separate rhythms - weekly garbage and a biweekly recycling rotation split into Schedule A and Schedule B, so two households on the same street can have different recycling weeks. Houston has also just changed how it bills for the service after decades of folding solid waste into the general property tax.

Here's how the city's garbage collection schedule actually works week to week, what the new fee means for your bill, and how the twice-a-year Heavy Trash program handles anything too big for a regular cart.

How often is trash picked up in Houston?

Garbage is collected weekly for every address. Recycling runs every other week on an A or B cycle tied to your street, and yard waste is picked up weekly alongside garbage as a standard part of service, not an add-on.

Yard waste must go in ASTM-certified compostable bags or a personal container, never mixed into the garbage cart, and bags should stay under 50 lbs.

Find your exact pickup day

Every Houston address has its own garbage day and its own A or B recycling week - confirm both with the city's lookup tool:

Look up your Houston pickup schedule →

Or download the free HTX Collects app for a synced calendar, delay alerts, and a recyclability search tool.

Bin placement rules

• Carts out by 7 AM, at least 3 feet from obstacles
• Recycling loose in the blue cart, no bagging
• Yard waste in a separate pile from household trash

Houston Trash Holiday Schedule

Houston's collection calendar shifts in a genuinely distinctive way: when a holiday falls on a weekday, that day's entire route does not run. Instead, every remaining collection day that week slides forward by one business day, with the last day sometimes absorbing two days of stops and spilling into Saturday.

Confirm exact current-year dates on the city's holiday collection page before relying on this table for a specific week.

What goes in each cart

How much does trash service cost in Houston?

Houston funded solid waste almost entirely through general property tax revenue for decades - it was one of the only major Texas cities with no separate residential trash bill. That changed in September 2026, when a new Solid Waste Administration Fee began appearing on water utility bills, with the city planning small annual increases in the years ahead.

Because this fee only just started and is scheduled to rise, treat any specific dollar figure as likely to change - confirm the current amount directly on houstontx.gov/solidwaste before budgeting for it. Houston does not use cart-size pricing tiers the way some other Texas cities do; the 95-gallon cart is standard issue regardless of household size.

Heavy trash pickup

Bulky item collection in Houston is free and included in service, but it runs on a twice-a-year citywide calendar rather than being available on demand. Odd months are for Tree Waste (limbs and branches up to 8 inches in diameter and 10 feet long), and even months are for Junk Waste (furniture, appliances, and similar bulky household items, up to about 8 cubic yards per set-out).

Set items out between 6 PM the Friday before your collection week and 7 AM on your scheduled day. Between cycles, or for anything over the volume limit, residents can also haul items to a Neighborhood Depository or the Westpark drop-off site with proof of address.

Apartments & multifamily buildings

City-run curbside collection generally covers single-family homes and small multifamily properties, typically eight units or fewer. Larger apartment complexes are expected to contract with a private hauler on the open commercial market rather than use the city's residential cart system.

Houston has also run a grant-funded multifamily recycling pilot with The Recycling Partnership, aiming to expand recycling access to thousands of apartment units that previously had none.

Reporting illegal dumping

Report illegal dumping or a missed collection through Houston 311 - call 311 from inside the city or 713-837-0311 from outside it, or use the 311 website or app. Missed garbage pickup is consistently one of the most common complaint types the city receives.

Frequently asked questions

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City contact & resources

Bookmark this Houston trash pickup schedule and check back whenever a holiday shifts the calendar.

Need more than curbside pickup? Compare local bulk & junk removal quotes. Browse all Texas cities or the full state directory.