Trash and Recycling in Fort Pierce

Inside Fort Pierce city limits, garbage, recycling, yard waste and bulk pickup is a City of Fort Pierce Public Works service run by the Solid Waste Division, and the monthly charge arrives on the Fort Pierce Utilities Authority (FPUA) bill.

The Fort Pierce Solid Waste Division describes itself as providing residential and commercial collection of garbage, recycling, horticultural waste and bulk waste (Solid Waste Division page). Its Public Works office is at 52 Savannah Rd., Fort Pierce, FL 34982, with mail going to P.O. Box 1480, Fort Pierce, FL 34954. Fort Pierce customer service answers at 772.467.3794 Monday through Friday from 8 a.m. to 5 p.m., excluding holidays, and the division office line is 772.467.3799.

On billing, the Fort Pierce rate page says the monthly charge for all trash services, residential and commercial, is billed by FPUA Utilities, that property taxes do not fund solid waste services, and that the city reviews rates annually (Garbage and Recycling Rates page). The city FAQ sends questions about a Fort Pierce garbage bill to the same 772-467-3794 number (City of Fort Pierce FAQ page).

St. Lucie County draws the same line between jurisdictions. The county Waste Pro customer service page lists Waste Pro (772-595-9390) for residents of unincorporated St. Lucie County, the City of Fort Pierce Solid Waste Division for Fort Pierce residents, and FCC for the City of Port St. Lucie (St. Lucie County Waste Pro customer service page). For the Fort Pierce row, that county page prints 100 North US 1 and 772-467-3000 rather than the Public Works office on Savannah Road.

Fort Pierce uses three city-issued carts: green for household garbage, blue for recycling and black for yard waste, each on its own collection frequency.

The Solid Waste Division page states that residential household garbage in green carts is collected twice per week, recycling in blue carts once weekly, and yard waste in black carts, together with bulk, once weekly (Solid Waste Division page). The Fort Pierce FAQ gives the size of two of those carts: bulk waste means anything too big for the 96-gallon green cart, and bulk debris means yard debris too big for the 96-gallon black cart (city FAQ on bulk waste).

Sources for the table: cart colors and frequencies from the Fort Pierce Solid Waste Division page; cart sizes from the city FAQ on bulk waste. The city FAQ also answers whether Fort Pierce recycling is really recycled: items from the blue cart go to the St. Lucie County Recycling Facility at the County Landfill, where they are sorted and sold to manufacturers (City of Fort Pierce FAQ page). The same FAQ defines solid waste as household garbage, recyclables, yard waste and white goods.

New Fort Pierce service, a repair or a replacement cart is requested through 772-467-3794, according to the FAQ, and a cart with a broken lid or wheel is replaced by the city if it is left out for crews to reach. The city does not swap out a cart that is merely old or smelly: the FAQ says residents are responsible for keeping carts clean and that carts are replaced only when broken beyond repair (City of Fort Pierce FAQ page).

Fort Pierce carts must be at the curb by 7:00 a.m. on collection day, clear of obstacles, and not set out more than 24 hours before or left out more than 24 hours after pickup.

The 24 hour limits on both sides of pickup day come from the city FAQ answer on set out times (City of Fort Pierce FAQ page). The Solid Waste Division page says carts must be placed curbside no later than 7:00 AM, unblocked by vehicles and other obstacles, and placed 5 feet apart from other carts (Solid Waste Division page). The Fort Pierce FAQ words the spacing differently, asking for 4 feet of clearance around the garbage cart, including behind it, so the two city pages state two distances (City of Fort Pierce FAQ page).

Missed pickups in Fort Pierce most often trace back to timing or placement, in the city's own words: the FAQ names a cart not out early enough as the most common reason and gives incorrect placement, too close to a mailbox, fence or car, or facing the wrong direction, as another cause. Overfilled carts with the lid open cannot be emptied, and missed collections are reported to 772-467-3794 (City of Fort Pierce FAQ page).

Fort Pierce publishes each address's pickup day through an interactive Curbside Collection Map where the address is typed in (City of Fort Pierce FAQ page). On holidays, the FAQ states that Solid Waste picks up on every holiday except Thanksgiving and Christmas, with collection resuming on the next scheduled service day. The Solid Waste Division page also links a separate Holiday Schedule page (Solid Waste Division page).

The Fort Pierce residential curbside rate is $34 a month, which the city says covers two garbage pickups, one recycling pickup, one yard waste pickup and one bulky yard waste and one mixed bulk pickup each week.

The Garbage and Recycling Rates page lists an additional cart at $21.44 each and a multifamily rate of $28 per unit minimum (Garbage and Recycling Rates page). For loads beyond the included amount, the Fort Pierce excess bulk rates are $6 per cubic yard for yard waste greater than 4 cubic yards and $10 per cubic yard for bulk waste greater than 2 cubic yards.

Every row in the table comes from the Fort Pierce Garbage and Recycling Rates page, which prints a full commercial grid for 2, 4, 6 and 8 cubic yard containers serviced from one to six days per week. The same Fort Pierce page states that compactors are charged 3.5 times the applicable rate and lists a commercial dumpster special of $26.13 for 2 cubic yards up to $77.92 for 8 cubic yards. Businesses comparing quotes should read the grid on the city page itself, since the city reviews rates annually.

Fort Pierce treats furniture, appliances, mattresses, carpet and large toys as bulk waste, and limbs up to 6 inches across and 6 feet long as yard debris, but two city pages give different pickup frequencies.

The city FAQ lists what Fort Pierce crews leave behind: automobile parts, motorcycles or parts, lawnmowers or parts, doors, bricks, cinder blocks, rocks, concrete, glass, dirt, sand, sod, drywall, paint, batteries, tires, any commercial waste and contractor-generated waste (city FAQ on bulk waste). For yard debris the same FAQ asks for piles no higher than 6 feet, limbs, logs and branches no more than 6 inches in diameter or 6 feet in length, no mixing of garbage and yard debris, and no piles within five feet of a fence, vehicle, mailbox, power line, pole or storm drain.

Frequency is where the Fort Pierce pages part ways. The Solid Waste Division page says yard waste and bulk collection is provided once weekly (Solid Waste Division page), and the rate page includes one bulky yard waste and one mixed bulk pickup weekly in the $34 rate (Garbage and Recycling Rates page). The FAQ answer on eligibility instead describes monthly brush and bulky trash collection for residents who pay for garbage and recycling on their Fort Pierce Utilities bill, and says non-residential sanitation customers are not eligible (City of Fort Pierce FAQ page). Residents planning a large cleanup can confirm the current frequency with Public Works at 772-467-3794 before setting a pile out.

The FAQ also defines bulky trash as excluding household garbage, wet solid waste, construction debris, automotive parts, soil, rocks, stones, tires, electronics and household hazardous waste such as chemicals, paints and fuel (City of Fort Pierce FAQ page). Those items need another route, covered in the next section.

Several things Fort Pierce curbside crews leave behind, such as oil-based paint, pool chemicals and tires, are accepted by St. Lucie County at its landfill site on Glades Cut-Off Road, street number 6120.

St. Lucie County calls its Solid Waste Baling and Recycling Facility a 331-acre site that takes in and processes solid waste products from county households and businesses; its phone is 772-462-1768 (St. Lucie County Solid Waste page). Weekday hours there are 7:00 a.m. to 5:00 p.m. and Saturday hours 8:00 a.m. to 1:00 p.m.; the site closes on Sundays, the 4th of July, Thanksgiving Day and Christmas Day and keeps the Saturday hours on other holidays. On weekdays the scale cutoff for hand unloaders is 4:15 p.m.

Household hazardous waste from St. Lucie County residents, Fort Pierce included, is accepted at that facility, and most of it is free of charge except cylinder tanks (St. Lucie County Household Hazardous Waste page). Accepted items include antifreeze, gas and motor oil in containers up to 5 gallons, oil-based paints, stains and solvents, pool and spa chemicals, rechargeable batteries and vehicle batteries; the county notes that single-use alkaline batteries can go in the garbage. The county page lists items it does not accept, among them ammunition, explosives, fireworks, flares, business-generated hazardous waste and out-of-county waste, and says latex paint is water based and not considered hazardous.

Loads hauled to the facility are charged under the St. Lucie County fee schedule: Class 1 garbage at $79.00 per ton, construction and demolition debris and yard waste at $69.00 per ton, and clean wood at $25.00 per ton, each with a $10.00 minimum (St. Lucie County Waste Fees page). Tires up to a 20 inch rim size cost $5.00 each for one to five tires. Last verified: October 22, 2026, against the Fort Pierce Solid Waste Division, rate and FAQ pages and four St. Lucie County solid waste pages, re-read for this Fort Pierce trash guide.