Spring Reminder of Trash, Recycle, Compost and Other Waste Services Information

With the arrival of Spring, the City wants to remind residents about how to best use the City’s waste services in Cambridge. The Department of Public Works (DPW) provides weekly pick-up of recycling, compost, yard waste, and trash. Here are some important tips:

• Place waste carts at the curb after 6 p.m. the night before or by 7 a.m. on collection day.
• After collection, remove carts from sidewalk by 6 p.m.
• Please mark your address number on the side of all trash, recycle and compost cars provided to you by the City.  This will reduce the chance of your carts going missing on collection day.

Visit our website www.CambridgeMA.Gov/Recycle

• To look up your collection schedule, and sign up to get email, text, or calendar alerts for collection day.
•  Report missed pick-ups after 4 p.m. on collection day or before 9 a.m. on day after pick-up.
• Use our "Get Rid of It Right" tool on our webpage to look up how to get rid of waste properly.
• Download the Zero Waste Cambridge app to look up collection day, report missed pick-ups, use the Get Rid of It Right tool, and more.
• To order supplies, if you need an extra recycle cart, compost cart, a kitchen bin to start composting or flyers or Yard Waste stickers.  Furthermore, if you have extra carts or bins that you no longer want, we can arrange to pick them up and have them recirculated in the community.  (Reuse is best!)

Lastly, the City needs your help reaching our Zero Waste goals. We have a goal of reducing trash 50% by 2030 (with 2008 as a baseline). As of 2023, we have reduced trash 34%. A few things you can do to help:

1. Recycle and compost as much as possible: More than 50% of residential trash is made up of recyclables and food waste.
2. Utilize our textiles recycling program and Recycle Center to recycle e-waste, metal, plastic film and more.
3. Look up our Reduce & Reuse tips on our webpage.

In 2024, the City is embarking on renewing our Zero Waste Master Plan. Sign-up for the monthly Recycle newsletter to stay updated and contribute to the Plan. Visit www.CambridgeMA.Gov/Recycle to sign up.