🗑️ Gainesville Trash Pickup

🗓️ How Pickup Works

Find your day on the New Collection Day Map. Garbage, recycling, yard waste and bulk are collected weekly on your collection day. Place carts at the curb by 7 AM on collection day, within 4 feet of the curb with at least 4 feet of clearance on all sides, and remove them by 9 PM. Bulk items set out by 7 AM may be collected until 12 PM the next day. Service is for homes with four or fewer units.

City pages refer to "the City's contracted hauling company" but do not name it. A new collection contract started October 1 and new collection days started Monday, October 5, 2026 for about 65% of households, with routes moving to a Monday to Friday schedule. Customer Service: (352) 334-2330, [email protected].

🛋️ Bulk Item Pickup

• 💵Cost: "there is no additional cost for bulk waste collection services."
• 📞How to book: Bulk items are "collected curbside weekly on your scheduled collection day"; no appointment needed. Set out by 7 AM within four feet of the curb or road edge. Appliances and electronics require a collection appointment (no additional charge).
• 📏Limits: Do-it-yourself interior remodeling debris limited to 2 cubic yards per week; carpets and rugs rolled, no longer than 5 feet, 40 pounds per roll. Accepted: sofas, chairs, dressers, tables, mattresses, box springs, bed frames, exercise equipment, outdoor furniture, grills, garden tools and similar. Not accepted: loose or bagged trash (except Official Yellow Bags), pallets, tires, pool equipment, lawn mowers, car parts, paint, propane tanks, auto batteries; contractor debris must be hauled by the contractor. Yard waste: 6 cubic yards per week, branches no longer than 5 feet, no larger than 8 inches in diameter, 40 pounds per piece; no plastic bags; no loose piles of leaves or pine needles.

Too long a wait, or over the limit? Haul it yourself: 7 public drop-off sites in Alachua County, or get a junk removal quote below.

Official bulk pickup page

🎄 Holiday Delays

"If your collection day occurs on or after one of the scheduled holidays listed above," "your collection will be delayed one day for the remainder of that week following that holiday." Holidays not listed as scheduled collection holidays are collected on the normal day. 2026 scheduled collection holidays: New Years Day, Thursday, Jan. 1; Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. Day, Monday, Jan. 19; Memorial Day, Monday, May 25; Thanksgiving Day, Thursday, Nov. 26 ("Collections delayed a day for Thursday collections only"). Juneteenth, Independence Day, Labor Day, Veterans' Day and Christmas Day: "No change in collection schedules this week." Holidays named: New Year's Day, Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. Day, Memorial Day, Thanksgiving Day.

Official holiday schedule

Dump and transfer station holiday hours

🌀 Hurricanes and Storm Debris

From the City's "Storm debris removal update" (published November 5, 2024): bag loose yard debris (leaves, twigs) in brown paper lawn and leaf bags or personal reusable containers; keep garbage, litter, lumber, boards and manufactured materials out of yard waste. Larger branches may go curbside in piles of no more than two cubic yards, each branch up to 5 feet long, 8 inches in diameter and 40 pounds. Keep at least 4 feet of clearance from carts, bins and posts. "Containers or piles over this weight limit and loose piles of debris will not be collected."

Official storm page

🏡 New Resident? Starting Service

Start, stop or move refuse service through Gainesville Regional Utilities (GRU). Only homeowners can change cart size, once per property per year.

Cost: "A new refuse account setup fee of $17.00" added to the GRU bill (Billing & Special Service Requests page; see gaps, as billing moved to the tax bill Oct. 1, 2026). Cart upsize: $19 fee plus prorated cost.

Official page

♻️ Recycling

Blue bin: aluminum and steel cans, empty aerosol cans, plastic bottles, jugs, jars and tubs (lids removed), glass food and beverage bottles and jars. Orange bin: flattened cardboard, paperboard, newspapers, magazines, office paper, junk mail, paper bags; shredded paper in a closed paper bag marked "Shredded Paper," 2 bags per week. Not accepted: plastic bags, food waste, foam, take-out boxes, cartons (as of 4/1/2024), batteries, light bulbs, cords, hangers, clamshells, foil and pans, greasy pizza boxes, paper plates and cups. Extra bins are free.

🚛 Drop It Off Yourself

• 📍Leveda Brown Environmental Park and Transfer Station, Gainesville · $65
• 📍Alachua County Hazardous Waste Collection Center, Gainesville · No fee
• 📍Alachua County Alachua/High Springs Rural Collection Center, High Springs
• 📍Alachua County Archer Rural Collection Center, Archer
• 📍Alachua County Fairbanks Rural Collection Center, Gainesville
• 📍Alachua County North Central Rural Collection Center, Gainesville

All drop-off sites, fees and hours in Alachua County

Rates are not shown: the city moved billing to the property tax bill on October 1, 2026, but its billing page still lists the old monthly rates. Check your tax bill or the city's solid waste page.

📚 Where This Comes From

• 🔗Garbage & Recycling (City of Gainesville)
• 🔗Curbside Collection Services (City of Gainesville)
• 🔗Changes to Residential Solid Waste (City of Gainesville)
• 🔗Solid Waste Special Assessment (City of Gainesville)
• 🔗Garbage Collection (City of Gainesville)
• 🔗Recycle Collection (City of Gainesville)
• 🔗Yard Waste Collection (City of Gainesville)
• 🔗Bulk Item Collection (City of Gainesville)
• 🔗Billing & Special Service Requests (City of Gainesville)
• 🔗Holiday Schedule (City of Gainesville)
• 🔗Storm debris removal update, November 5, 2024 (City of Gainesville)

Checked November 1, 2026. Trash rules and rates change; the official pages above are the final word. See something out of date? Tell us.