City guide · Texas

San Antonio Trash Pickup Schedule

This San Antonio trash pickup schedule covers a city whose Solid Waste Management Department (SWMD) runs garbage, recycling, and an opt-in organics cart on the very same weekly day for most addresses. Unlike Houston's split A/B recycling weeks, San Antonio empties the blue recycling cart every single week, right alongside the black garbage cart.

San Antonio is also one of the few major Texas cities offering a dedicated Green Cart Organics Recycling Program, and its holiday adjustments follow a more selective pattern than neighboring cities - not every city holiday pushes the calendar back. Here's how SWMD's garbage collection schedule, billing, and Brush and Bulky programs actually work.

How often is trash picked up in San Antonio?

Garbage and recycling are both collected weekly for every SWMD residential account, always on the same calendar day. Households that opt into the Green Cart Organics program get that cart emptied weekly too, on that same collection day.

Because all three streams share one collection day, San Antonio's garbage pickup days are also your recycling and organics days - there's only one date each week to keep in mind, not a rotating A/B calendar.

This single-day rhythm is one of the more resident-friendly parts of San Antonio's waste pickup days: there's no need to remember a second recycling week or track which color week you're in. New residents moving from a city with a split recycling calendar often find San Antonio's version easier to plan around once they know their one weekly date.

Find your exact pickup day

Every San Antonio address has its own assigned collection day, and SWMD's online lookup is the fastest way to confirm it before you set anything at the curb.

Look up your San Antonio pickup schedule →

SWMD also mails a printed annual holiday collection calendar to every household, which is worth keeping on the fridge alongside whatever digital reminder you set.

If you've just moved or your street has had construction that changed routing, it's worth re-checking the lookup tool rather than assuming your old address's day still applies. Collection days can shift when SWMD redraws routes, so treating the online tool as the source of truth beats guessing from a neighbor's schedule.

Cart placement rules

SWMD asks households to keep carts easy to reach and clear of obstacles so automated trucks can service them without delay. The same basic rules apply whether you're putting out garbage, recycling, or the opt-in organics cart.

• Carts at the curb well before your scheduled collection window, ideally the night before
• Recycling loose in the blue cart, no bagging
• Organics loose or in compostable bags in the green cart, kept separate from garbage

Carts blocked by parked cars, low tree limbs, or fences are commonly the reason a pickup gets missed. Giving the truck's automated arm clear space on all sides is the simplest way to avoid a skipped collection.

San Antonio Trash Holiday Schedule

San Antonio uses a version of the same cascading-slip pattern as Houston: when a qualifying holiday falls on a weekday, that day's routes and the rest of the week's collections shift one day later, with Friday routes sometimes moving to Saturday. But San Antonio's holiday list is more selective than it first appears.

Per SWMD's official FY2025-26 holiday table, several city holidays - Fiesta San Jacinto Day, Memorial Day, Juneteenth, the Fourth of July, and Labor Day - cause no change to the regular collection calendar at all. Only New Year's Day, the MLK week, Thanksgiving, and Christmas actually trigger the one-day slip, so don't assume every city holiday delays your garbage pickup days.

SWMD mails a printed annual holiday calendar to every household each year. It's still worth confirming exact current-year dates on sa.gov before assuming this table applies to a specific week.

The practical takeaway for San Antonio's trash collection calendar is that a holiday on your street doesn't automatically mean a delay. Check the specific holiday against SWMD's table (or the mailed calendar) before deciding whether to set your cart out a day later than usual.

What goes in each cart

The Green Cart program is opt-in, so if you don't have one and want to start composting curbside, request it through SWMD. Atlas Organics, the city's composting contractor, turns the collected material into finished compost that residents can buy back.

How much does trash service cost in San Antonio?

San Antonio bills solid waste service as a separate monthly fee on the CPS Energy utility bill - the electric utility, not the water bill, which surprises some new residents. Published rates run from $19.76 per month for the 48-gallon (Small) cart up to $35.75 per month for the 96-gallon (Large) cart, both figures including a $5 environmental fee, with a $25.26 per month Medium (64-gallon) tier in between.

Downsizing to a smaller cart is free at any time, and the first upsize to a bigger cart is free too; additional upsizes after that cost $25. Older sources sometimes mention a $3 per month charge for the Green Cart Organics program, but that figure appears outdated - the current official rates page lists no additional fee for opting into organics collection.

Misusing the blue or green cart, for example by contaminating it with the wrong material, can trigger a $25 fee, or $50 specifically for diapers placed in either cart.

Bills are paid through CPS Energy's normal channels - online, by phone, by mail, or in person - since solid waste is simply a line item on that combined utility statement rather than a separate invoice.

Brush and Bulky pickup

San Antonio runs Brush and Bulky as two separate free programs rather than one combined service, and each one comes around twice a year per address. SWMD sends a door-hanger notice about 7 to 10 days before your collection week so you know exactly when to set items out.

Brush generally covers limbs, branches, and other plant material, while Bulky covers furniture, appliances, and other large household items too big for the regular garbage cart. Keeping the two piles separated on your collection week helps the crews sort and haul each type correctly.

For both programs, place material within 8 feet of the curb and no more than 8 cubic yards total, out by 7 AM on the Monday of your collection week. Outside those two scheduled cycles each year, residents can still request an out-of-cycle pickup for $50 covering one item or up to 4 cubic yards, plus $25 for each additional 4 cubic yards.

Missing your twice-yearly window doesn't mean waiting months with a pile at the curb - the paid out-of-cycle option exists precisely for that gap, though it costs more than waiting for the free citywide cycle.

Apartments & multifamily buildings

SWMD's direct curbside garbage, recycling, and organics service is built for single-family homes and other residential accounts billed through CPS Energy. Multifamily properties aren't served directly by the city's cart system the same way.

Instead, city ordinance (Chapter 14) requires any multifamily property with three or more units to arrange its own resident recycling service, typically through a private hauler. Property owners who don't comply can face fines of up to $2,000 per day, so it's a real regulatory mandate rather than a suggestion.

If you rent in a multifamily property and don't see a recycling option on-site, that's worth raising with your property manager directly - the ordinance puts the compliance obligation on the owner, not on individual residents.

Reporting illegal dumping

Report illegal dumping or a missed collection through San Antonio's 311 line or by calling (210) 207-6000 directly. Both lines are staffed seven days a week from 7 AM to 7 PM, and 8 AM to 5 PM on holidays.

Reporting promptly matters for both issues: a missed cart is easiest to resolve the same day it happens, and illegal dumping reports help SWMD track problem locations across the city.

Frequently asked questions

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City contact & resources

Bookmark this San Antonio trash pickup schedule and check back whenever a holiday shifts the calendar, since only a handful of city holidays actually move your route.

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