Trash and recycling — Palm Bay, Florida

Republic Services of Florida collects Palm Bay household trash twice a week and recycling once a week, under a city franchise whose service began on October 1, 2020.

The City of Palm Bay Trash and Recycling page states that residents receive twice-a-week garbage collection and once weekly recycling collection, as well as pickup for bulk and yard waste with no volume restrictions. The city's Republic Services Collection Schedule tool returns the trash, recycling, bulk and yard waste days for any Palm Bay address. Republic's local customer line is (321) 989-6030, toll-free (844) 737-8254.

The change of hauler was a deliberate Palm Bay decision. Waste Management had provided solid waste service to the city for approximately thirty years, and at the February 7, 2019 Regular Council Meeting the Palm Bay City Council decided not to renew that contract and ordered the city's first competitive solicitation (City of Palm Bay solid waste contract page). Three proposals came in, from Great Waste and Recycling Services, Republic Services of Florida and Waste Pro of Florida, and Republic ranked first in every phase.

The Palm Bay City Council approved the Republic contract by a vote of 4-1 on May 28, 2020. The city's news release the next day described a ten-year agreement with two two-year renewals, for a maximum term of 14 years, with Republic's twice-weekly service starting October 1, 2020 (City of Palm Bay news, May 29, 2020). A city survey before the decision drew about 1,260 responses, and 47.02 percent favored increasing pickup to twice a week.

The City of Palm Bay Trash and Recycling page lists residential trash service at $31.01 per month in October 2026, billed by Palm Bay Utilities rather than by Republic.

That figure is higher than the rate in the city's fee resolution for the prior year. Resolution 2025-35, which set Palm Bay's miscellaneous rates for fiscal year 2025-26, lists residential service at $29.00 per month or $81.72 per quarter (Palm Bay Resolution 2025-35). The city page also labels its extra cart fees effective October 1, 2026, so the table shows each Palm Bay source with its own figures.

Palm Bay prices have climbed since the switch. Under Waste Management, residential customers paid $12.30 per month for once-weekly pickup; the negotiated Republic rate for twice-weekly service was $23.50 per month, an increase of 91 percent, and the contract allows future rate increases of 3 percent each year (City of Palm Bay solid waste contract page). Resolution 2025-35 also sets a $30.00 solid waste deposit for accounts without credit screening (Palm Bay Resolution 2025-35, page A-1).

Palm Bay Utilities sends one bill for solid waste and, where connected, water and sewer, and Utilities Customer Service at (321) 952-3420 handles billing questions. Republic Services bills Palm Bay commercial properties and multi-family residential properties such as apartment complexes directly (City of Palm Bay Trash and Recycling page). Last verified: October 12, 2026, on the City of Palm Bay website, using its Trash and Recycling page and Resolution 2025-35.

Each Palm Bay home gets one trash cart and one recycling cart, each offered in 35, 65 or 95 gallons, picked up by trucks with automated arms.

The City of Palm Bay Trash and Recycling page sizes the carts in garbage bags: the 35-gallon cart holds 2 to 3 tall garbage bags and stands 38 inches tall, the 65-gallon holds 4 to 5 bags, and the 95-gallon holds 7 to 8 bags at 43 inches tall. Size exchanges go through Republic for a one-time fee. Since October 1, 2025, Republic no longer collects unregistered additional carts, so a second Palm Bay trash cart must be registered with the Utilities Department at 321-952-3420.

Placement rules on the Palm Bay page are specific. Carts sit one foot from the curb or street edge, at least three feet from trees, poles, fire hydrants, mailboxes and parked cars, three feet apart from each other, with sixteen feet of clearance overhead, arrows on the lid facing the street. Section 150.41 of the Palm Bay Code adds that nothing may be set within fifteen feet of any fire hydrant nor on top of a water meter (Palm Bay Code section 150.41).

The two Palm Bay sources give different set-out times. The city page says to have the cart at the curb by 5 a.m. on collection day, while Section 150.41 requires refuse at the collection point prior to 4:00 a.m., but not prior to 5:00 p.m. on the day before, and requires empty containers to be removed from curbside on the day of collection. Republic offers carry-out service for Palm Bay customers who are physically unable to move carts to the curb, by application or physician's note.

Palm Bay's single-stream recycling cart takes flattened cardboard, paper, aluminum and food cans, and plastic bottles and jugs, but not glass.

The accepted list on the City of Palm Bay Trash and Recycling page names cardboard boxes, file folders, food boxes with liners removed and poster board; aluminum beverage cans and food cans; brochures, envelopes, magazines, mail, newspaper and phone books; and plastic detergent containers, milk jugs, shampoo bottles, soda bottles and water bottles. Food and liquid should be removed from Palm Bay metal and plastic items before they go in the cart.

Glass is the notable exclusion in Palm Bay. The city explains that glass, while recyclable, is not accepted locally and is treated as a contaminant in single stream recycling because broken glass contaminates paper and cardboard. The never list also includes plastic bags and wrappers, polystyrene foam take-out boxes, pizza boxes, garden hoses and other tanglers, batteries, clothing, diapers, electronics, scrap metal, tools and toys.

Recycling was part of the 2020 Palm Bay contract terms. When the contract began, the city said all residential customers would receive recycling service on Wednesday, moving to Saturday in a Wednesday holiday week, and garbage on either Monday and Thursday or Tuesday and Friday (City of Palm Bay solid waste contract page). Current days for a given street come from the city's address lookup.

Republic collects unlimited bulk items and yard waste at Palm Bay curbs once a week on the scheduled day, a change from the three cubic yard bulk limit under Waste Management.

Bulk pickup on the City of Palm Bay Trash and Recycling page covers refrigerators, ranges, washers, dryers, water heaters, freezers, air conditioners, furniture, mattresses, computers, printers, flat screen TVs and residential move-out piles. Palm Bay household trash is hauled to the Brevard County Sarno Transfer Station, so treated wood is excluded from pickup because that station classes it as prohibited waste (City of Palm Bay solid waste contract page).

Yard waste in Palm Bay must be kept apart from household trash and recyclables, and no plastic or paper bags may be used for it. Limbs and stumps under six inches in diameter are cut to four feet or less, and pieces over six inches to two feet or less. A pile too large for a standard truck is noted for a claw truck, normally within 1 to 3 days; piles on empty Palm Bay lots with no service are not picked up, and debris left by commercial landscape services is the landscaper's to haul away.

Volume can swamp the system. After a freeze, Palm Bay yard waste collected in March 2026 rose 61 percent over the same period a year earlier, and Republic added two Saturday yard waste routes and an extra grapple truck from outside the area, treating the backlog like a hurricane debris event (City of Palm Bay news, April 3, 2026).

Palm Bay holiday pickups shift to the next scheduled day, except Thanksgiving, which moves to the following Saturday, and hazardous waste goes to Brevard County drop-off centers.

The City of Palm Bay Trash and Recycling page lists the 2026 schedule: Memorial Day (May 25), Veterans Day (November 11) and Christmas (December 25) collections move to the next scheduled service day, and Thanksgiving collection on November 26, 2026 moves to Saturday, November 28. The 2020 Palm Bay contract recognizes only five holidays: Memorial Day, Independence Day, Veterans Day, Thanksgiving and Christmas Day.

Storm season changes the rules in Palm Bay. The city asks residents not to place any bulk or yard waste curbside within 72 hours before a tropical storm or hurricane, may hire a separate debris contractor after a severe storm, and states that it does not pick up disaster debris from private HOAs or special taxing districts, which must arrange their own removal.

Paint, pool chemicals, pesticides, propane tanks, motor oil and rechargeable batteries cannot go in Palm Bay carts. The city directs residents to the three permanent Household Hazardous Waste Collection Centers run by the Brevard County Solid Waste Management Department, free for residents, at (321) 633-2042. Construction debris roll-off haulers working in Palm Bay need a five-year non-exclusive franchise with a $500 application fee, listed under Section 150.30 in Resolution 2025-35, and Public Works Customer Service at (321) 952-3437 answers questions on the application process.