Denver Trash Pickup & Garbage Schedule 2026

Denver is one of the most aggressive cities in the US when it comes to rewarding residents who recycle and compost. Since January 2023, the City and County of Denver’s Solid Waste Management Division has run a Pay-As-You-Throw (PAYT) system — a smaller trash cart means a smaller monthly bill. Free weekly compost and weekly recycling are bundled in. The catch? Miss a pickup and you can wait up to two weeks for recycling or nine weeks for Large Item Pickup. That’s why knowing your schedule down to the exact day matters more in Denver than in almost any other US city.

How to Find Your Denver Trash Pickup Day (60-Second Lookup)

Denver Solid Waste Management serves about 180,000 single-family homes and small multifamily properties with seven units or fewer. Every address has a specific day assigned, plus an A-week or B-week designation for recycling, plus a set-out location (alley vs curb), plus a Large Item Pickup week that rotates every 9 weeks. The only place this is all accurate at once is the City’s official lookup tool. Here’s how to work it fast:

1. Open the Denver schedule lookup. Go to denvergov.org Trash Schedules & Reminders. Ignore third-party apps like TrashAlert or random “Denver trash day” Google results — those are often 12+ months out of date and missed the Monday–Thursday route switch.
2. Enter your address in the finder. Start typing and pick your address from the autocomplete dropdown. Apartment numbers aren’t usually required — enter the street address only. If you share a cart with neighbors (legal under PAYT), everyone uses the same schedule as the cart’s registered address.
3. Read all four data points. Your results will show: (1) your trash day Monday–Thursday, (2) your compost day — same as trash, weekly, (3) your recycle A or B week, and (4) your set-out location (alley, curb, or front-yard placement). Screenshot this page.
4. Download the Denver Trash & Recycling app. Available free on Google Play and the Apple App Store. Push reminders the night before pickup, built-in Waste Directory to check if an item is recyclable, and Large Item Pickup week notifications you won’t get anywhere else.
5. Sign up for email/text reminders as backup. On the same Schedules page, click “Sign Up for Reminders.” Even if the app glitches (happens during Denver Broncos game weeks — the city’s servers load up), email reminders from a different system keep you covered.

Denver Trash Pickup Schedule: What Runs When

Denver uses a three-cart system with different pickup cadences for each. Here’s exactly what happens on your collection day, broken out service by service.

Most City-served routes run Monday through Thursday with 10-hour shifts. Friday is reserved for catch-up work, holiday rebalancing, and missed-pickup recovery — which is why holiday weeks can slide your Thursday pickup to Friday (or even Saturday in rare cases). A small number of addresses still have Friday as the primary day; the lookup tool tells you definitively.

How Denver’s Pay-As-You-Throw Trash Fees Work (2026 Rates)

This is the single most misunderstood part of Denver’s trash system. Since 2023, every single-family home pays a monthly fee based on the size of their black trash cart. Weekly recycling and weekly compost are included at no extra charge regardless of cart size. That’s the whole trick — the system is designed to reward you for downsizing trash and composting more.

Downsizing from a 95-gallon to a 35-gallon cart saves you $144/year — more than enough to cover a couple of junk-removal calls if you ever need a big cleanout. Trash fees are billed quarterly, not monthly. You can pay online through a Denver Utilities Online account, or by check after a mailed invoice.

Denver Recycling Schedule: Understanding A-Week vs B-Week

Denver collects recycling (purple cart) every other week, not every week. Half of the city is on A-weeks, the other half on B-weeks. Your address is permanently assigned to one or the other — and the ONLY reliable way to know which is the city’s lookup tool. If you guess wrong, you miss recycling for two full weeks.

Accepted in the purple recycling cart:

• Paper: newspapers, magazines, junk mail, office paper, cereal/pizza boxes (food-free), paperboard, cartons (milk, juice, soy milk)
• Cardboard: corrugated and flattened (big boxes broken down)
• Plastic: rigid plastics marked #1 through #7 — bottles, jugs, jars, tubs, cups
• Glass: food and beverage bottles and jars (all colors — clear, brown, green)
• Metal: aluminum cans, steel cans, tin cans, aluminum foil, aluminum trays

NOT accepted — causes entire cart to be landfilled:

• Plastic bags (Denver’s #1 contamination issue — take to grocery store bins)
• Foam food containers / Styrofoam
• Tanglers: hoses, chains, cords, string lights
• Food-soiled items (greasy pizza boxes are fine if the cheese side is clean)
• Batteries, light bulbs, electronics
• Needles / sharps (never — use pharmacy drop-box)

Denver Compost Schedule (Green Cart — What Actually Goes In)

Denver’s green compost cart is picked up every single week on your regular trash day. The city accepts a wider range of materials than most municipal compost programs because they use an industrial facility that can process harder items. This is where the “downsize your trash cart” strategy pays off — moving food scraps into green diverts the smelliest, heaviest stuff from the black cart.

You can line your green cart with paper bags, CMA-certified compost bags, or leave scraps loose. Food scraps can go in a small bucket on your kitchen counter and be emptied into the cart every few days — freezing scraps between pickups eliminates smell entirely.

Denver Large Item Pickup: Every 9 Weeks Explained

This is where Denver trips up nearly every new resident. You don’t schedule bulk pickup in Denver — it happens automatically, on your regular collection day, once every 9 weeks. Miss your 9-week window and you wait another 9 weeks. No appointments, no calling 311 to “request” it. The only way to know your next Large Item week is to check it in the app or on the city’s lookup tool.

What you can put out:

• Up to 5 large items (furniture, mattresses, rugs, exercise equipment, non-electric bicycles, bundled branches)
• Up to 10 extra bags of trash beyond your cart
• Wrapped mattresses and box springs (must be sealed in a mattress bag)

NOT accepted for Large Item Pickup:

• Electronics (TVs, computers, phones) — take to e-waste recycling
• Appliances with refrigerant (fridges, freezers, AC units)
• Paint, motor oil, pesticides, any hazardous waste
• Construction debris, concrete, drywall
• Tires

1. Check your next Large Item week. Open the Denver Trash & Recycling app or use the official Large Item Pickup page. It tells you exactly when your next 9-week pickup falls.
2. Gather items inside your house in advance. Crews won’t come inside, into the basement, up the stairs, or into the garage. Everything has to be at the curb before 6:00 a.m.
3. Place items 2+ feet from carts and other obstructions. Denver uses a separate claw truck for Large Items — if items touch parked cars, carts, fences, hydrants, or mailboxes, they’re skipped.
4. Wrap mattresses in a sealed bag. This is a firm rule — unwrapped mattresses are not collected. Buy a disposable plastic mattress bag from any hardware store for $8–12.
5. Bundle branches under 4 feet. If you’re putting out yard waste as part of Large Items, tie bundles smaller than 4 feet long and 2 feet around. Anything larger gets left behind.

Denver 2026 Holiday Trash Pickup Schedule

Denver Solid Waste observes six federal holidays that delay pickup by one day for the rest of the week if your service falls on or after the holiday. The rule is consistent: if the holiday is on Monday, Monday’s collections move to Tuesday, Tuesday’s to Wednesday, and so on. If the holiday lands on a Saturday or Sunday, there’s no shift (because Denver doesn’t collect on weekends anyway).

Holidays that do NOT affect Denver collection: MLK Day, Presidents’ Day, Good Friday, Veterans Day, Columbus Day / Indigenous Peoples’ Day. Your regular schedule runs as normal these weeks.

What to Do If Denver Missed Your Trash, Recycle, or Compost Pickup

If your carts were out by 6:00 a.m. on the correct day and weren’t collected, you have a narrow reporting window and a specific process that gets you service fastest:

1. Wait until 6:00 p.m. on your collection day. Routes run all day — some addresses aren’t reached until evening. If still sitting out by 6 p.m., it’s officially missed.
2. Leave carts at curb overnight. Don’t pull them back in. Denver frequently sends return trucks the next morning for missed stops.
3. Report via Denver Utilities Online or 311. Call (720) 913-1311 or submit online through Denver Utilities Online. Reporting before end of day next-business-day is critical — late reports often get rejected.
4. Get a service ticket number. Write it down. If you need a follow-up call, the ticket number is the only way the city can find your report.
5. Ask for a full return trip. If it’s recycling or compost (which only come every other week or weekly), specifically ask for a return trip rather than “catch it next time.” Crews can and will come back if asked, but don’t always offer.

Cherry Creek Recycling and Compost Drop-off Center

This is the single most underused resource in Denver’s waste system. The Cherry Creek Recycling and Compost Drop-off is a free drop-off for all Denver residents — bring recycling that overflowed your cart, extra compostable yard waste, broken-down cardboard from a move, or the Christmas tree you missed on TreeCycle. No appointment. Just show up with your ID.

Denver Seasonal Trash Programs (LeafDrop, TreeCycle, Mulch Giveaway)

Three free seasonal programs that Denver residents routinely forget exist:

LeafDrop (October–November 2026)

Every fall, Denver opens 10+ temporary leaf drop-off sites citywide where residents can dump bagged or loose leaves free. This is the single best use of the program: composting sites accept unlimited volume, and you avoid cramming leaves into your green cart for four straight weeks. Watch the official Solid Waste page in early October for site announcements.

TreeCycle (December 2026 – January 2027)

Free Christmas tree drop-off at designated parks across the city for two weeks after the holiday. Trees are chipped into mulch that’s given back free at the spring event. Remove ALL decorations, lights, tinsel, and stands first — you’ll see a long line of rejected trees at every site because someone leaves a string of lights buried in the branches.

Spring Mulch Giveaway (May 2026)

The reward for everyone who composted yard waste all year: free mulch, one load, at designated sites. Bring your own truck or trailer, a shovel, and a tarp. Shows up every year and routinely sells out (free) in under 90 minutes at popular sites. Arrive at opening time.

Denver Trash Cart Care: Cleaning, Theft, and Damage

Carts are City property — you never buy them, and replacement is free for normal wear. Here are the rules most people never learn until something goes wrong:

• Broken or cracked carts: Call 311 ((720) 913-1311) — replacement delivered in 5–10 business days.
• Stolen carts: Also call 311. No police report needed in most cases.
• Moving? Leave all three carts at your old address. The City tracks carts by address — if you take them, you’ll be billed for them and the new resident won’t get service.
• Cleaning: Hose out after pickup days. Food residue in black carts attracts wildlife (Denver has urban bears and coyotes closer in than most residents realize).

Trash Pickup in Denver Suburbs (Not City & County of Denver)

If you live in Aurora, Lakewood, Arvada, Thornton, Westminster, Littleton, Wheat Ridge, Commerce City, Centennial, or Greenwood Village — you are not served by Denver Solid Waste Management. Each of these suburbs has its own contract with private haulers (most commonly Waste Connections, Waste Management, Republic Services, or Alpine Waste), with different rules, fees, and pickup days.

Calling Denver 311 won’t help you. Start by checking your suburb’s city website for their specific “residential trash” page, or look at your most recent utility bill — your hauler’s name is printed on it.

Frequently Asked Questions About Denver Trash Pickup

Official Denver Waste Collection Resources

Service counter in person: 2013 Osage Street, Denver, CO 80204. Open Tuesday through Saturday, 8:00 a.m. to 2:00 p.m. Closed Sundays, Mondays, and city holidays. This is also where you pick up rebate paperwork, request cart swaps in person, and resolve complicated billing issues.