Garbage and Recycling in Jacksonville

Curbside garbage, yard waste and recycling in Jacksonville is run by the City's Solid Waste Division, whose service pages split homes into the City, Meridian Waste and Waste Pro service areas.

The Solid Waste Division home page lists residential curbside collection of garbage, yard waste and recycling, including appliance and tire collections, among its duties, along with landfill operations, litter and illegal dumping work and household hazardous waste disposal. The division is led by Chief Will Williams at 1031 Superior Street, (904) 255-7500. One count on the City's site does not match another: the home page says contracts are administered with three private garbage haulers, while the Garbage Service Standards page names only two hauler service areas, Meridian Waste and Waste Pro, alongside the City service area.

Which Jacksonville service area a house falls in decides the container rules, as the City's garbage and Automated Services pages set them out:

In the Waste Pro area, customers may request a smaller 64-gallon cart after a 60-day trial, with one swap free of charge, and extra carts cost $65 for a large cart or $55 for a small one. In the City and Meridian areas, the Automated Services page says additional recycling carts are not available for purchase because of low inventory, garbage carts are not issued, and bulk items go out weekly on the same day as household garbage. Apartments are outside the Jacksonville system: the City's multi-family and commercial page states that it does not provide solid waste services to multi-family complexes or commercial properties, defined as more than four housekeeping units, and that each complex's management chooses a private hauler and decides how tenants are billed.

Jacksonville collects household garbage and yard waste weekly and recycling every other week, with everything at the curb no later than 6 a.m. on collection day.

The Garbage Service Standards page says waste should not be placed at the curb before 5:00 p.m. the day prior to collection, and empty containers must be removed by 6:00 a.m. the day after. The service standards page requires residential waste within 5 feet of the edge of the traveled portion of the street, and not stacked over water or gas meters, under low hanging tree limbs or utility wires, or beside mailboxes. On the Curbside Recycling page, recycling is automated and collected every other week in all service areas; carts sit at least two feet apart and three feet from obstructions, wheels away from the road, lids closed. If garbage, recycling or yard trash has not been picked up by 6 p.m. on the scheduled day, the City asks residents to report it the following day through myjax.custhelp.com or 630-CITY (2489).

The Holiday Schedules page says Jacksonville collection changes only on Thanksgiving Day and Christmas Day, regardless of how many days City offices close:

The City's Waste Wizard looks up each Jacksonville address's collection day, prints a calendar and signs residents up for service alerts.

Jacksonville's yellow-lid cart takes clean paper, cardboard, cans, cartons, glass and plastics numbered 1 to 3, 5 and 7, with no pre-sorting and no bags.

The Curbside Recycling page sorts the Jacksonville list this way:

Containers should be empty, rinsed and dry, and recyclables never go in plastic bags. The City's advice is "when in doubt, throw it out", because non-recyclable or dirty items can damage equipment or contaminate loads, causing thousands of pounds of material to be landfilled rather than recycled.

Yard waste never goes in a Jacksonville city cart, according to the Yard Waste page. It is collected weekly and set apart from the garbage when both fall on the same day; limbs, logs and stumps may not exceed 5 feet in length or 40 pounds, limbs and logs may be no more than six inches in diameter, leaves and grass go in sealed containers, and the limit is five cubic yards, roughly thirty 32-gallon bags. Treated or painted wood such as fencing, railroad ties and landscape timbers goes with household garbage, and trimmings from a hired tree company must be removed by that company. The Household Bulk Collection page covers mattresses, sofas, furniture, grills, wrapped glass, rolled carpet no longer than five feet and fencing cut to 5 feet or less.

Jacksonville's garbage goes to the City's Trail Ridge Landfill at 5110 U.S. Hwy 301S in Baldwin, about 4 1/2 miles south of I-10.

The Disposal Operations page lists Trail Ridge hours of 6 a.m. to 7:00 p.m. Monday through Friday and 6 a.m. to 1:00 p.m. Saturday, closed Sunday, with information at (904) 748-6015. Its posted fee schedule:

The Solid Waste Division home page says the division also handles landfill closures and ongoing maintenance for the East, North and Trail Ridge landfills. The City's South Mulch Facility at 11600 Davis Creek Road East, once a Jacksonville yard waste processing site, is listed as closed.

Household hazardous waste cannot be collected curbside in Jacksonville. The City's Household Hazardous Waste Facility at 2675 Commonwealth Avenue, (904) 387-8847, is open Tuesday through Saturday, 8:00 a.m. to 5:00 p.m., closed Sunday and Monday, and is free for Duval residents. It takes pesticides, pool chemicals, antifreeze, motor oil, fuels and propane, paint and thinners, car and rechargeable batteries, fertilizer, aerosol cans and fluorescent bulbs, with limits of 27 gallons of paint and 27 gallons of motor oil in a 30 day period per Duval County resident. Non-residents and small quantity generators pay $4.25 a gallon for flammable liquids. Mobile collection events, open to all Duval County residents, also take hazardous waste and electronics.

Tires and appliances are picked up in Jacksonville only by appointment through 630-CITY (2489) or the City's online scheduling links, while electronics can go to the hazardous waste facility.

The Garbage Service Standards page says tires and appliances need to be scheduled for collection in every Jacksonville service area. Residents hauling them to Trail Ridge themselves must declare them at the scale house or pay an additional surcharge; the Disposal Operations page lists passenger car tires at $1.50 each at the scale house or $13.50 discarded on the hill, truck tires at $10.00, other tires at $28.00 and appliances at $20.00.

Small home electronics such as computers, TVs and printers may go out with Jacksonville household garbage, the garbage page says, but the Household Hazardous Waste page notes that once these items enter the normal waste stream they cannot be recycled and are landfilled. The HHW Facility and mobile events accept televisions, monitors, computers, printers, phones, power tools and small kitchen appliances, with a limit of 3 cathode ray tubes and televisions per customer, and the e-waste service is for residences only. Construction debris has its own Jacksonville limits: the City's garbage, recycling and yard waste FAQs state that carpet, padding and fencing are not construction debris and go with household garbage or bulk, and that projects beyond the one or two cubic yard allowance need a hired rubbish removal container.

The 2026 Jacksonville residential solid waste fee is $29.50 a month, or $354 a year, per premise, billed on the property tax bill.

The City's Residential Solid Waste Fee page says the Jacksonville fee covers collection and disposal of household garbage, yard waste and recycling and is collected as a non-ad valorem assessment on the property tax bill. It is generally charged to owners of parcels with four or fewer residential structures, regardless of occupancy; parcels with more than four are not eligible for city residential collection.

Under Ordinance Code Section 382.504(a)(1) the Low-Income Exemption program applies to the garbage fee, but per Ordinance 2025-2-E the exemption does not eliminate it; it holds the amount at $12.65 a month. Future Jacksonville rates follow the annual review of fees in Section 106.112 of the Ordinance Code. Waivers are not granted for properties with only one residential unit, and owners who want to contest the charge call the Solid Waste Division at 904-255-7500 and submit an affidavit for waiver. Last verified: October 18, 2026, against the City of Jacksonville Solid Waste Division's service standards, recycling, yard waste, bulk, holiday, disposal, hazardous waste, FAQ, automated services, multi-family and fee pages.