Port St. Lucie Trash, Recycling and Yard Waste Guide

Each Port St. Lucie address has one collection day: garbage, recycling and yard waste go out weekly on it, and bulk waste goes out once a month on that same day (Port St. Lucie Collection Schedule page).

The Office of Solid Waste gives three ways to look the day up. The online map returns the pickup day for a typed address, and a printable Waste Collection Map is offered as a PDF (Port St. Lucie Collection Schedule page). Staff will also look up the day by phone at 772-871-1775, press 5, during business hours, and the City Hall front desk will look it up and mark it on a magnet to take home (Port St. Lucie Collection Schedule page). The office sits in City Hall, Building A, 121 SW Port St. Lucie Blvd., and keeps hours Monday through Friday, 8 a.m. to 5 p.m.

Three Port St. Lucie holidays move the whole week. Independence Day, Thanksgiving and Christmas are the only observed holidays that affect collection, and on those weeks garbage, recycling, yard waste and bulk schedules shift forward one day: a Thursday route that falls on Thanksgiving is collected Friday, and Friday service moves to Saturday (Port St. Lucie Collection Schedule page).

Port St. Lucie's green cart takes paper, aluminum and steel cans, cardboard, plastic bottles, tubs, jugs and jars, and green, brown or clear glass bottles and jars, all loose and empty, clean and dry (Port St. Lucie Recycling page).

The Port St. Lucie Recycling page adds detail for each material. Almost any paper counts, including junk mail, magazines and copy paper, except shredded, waxed, metallic or soiled paper. Cans can keep their labels. Cardboard is accepted unless it held a liquid, such as a milk, juice, wine or broth carton, and a box soaked with grease or oil, like a pizza box, cannot be recycled (Port St. Lucie Recycling page). Plastic containers are accepted with or without the lid.

Bags are the main problem item. Recyclables must be loose because plastic bags catch in the machinery at the Material Recovery Facility and stop the line until the bag is pulled out (Port St. Lucie Recycling page). Plastic grocery bags and Styrofoam egg cartons go back to a store rather than into the cart. For a specific item, the page points residents to St. Lucie County's online recycling search tool.

The holiday list on the same page is practical: paper gift wrap, tissue paper, greeting cards and foil baking pans can be recycled, while bows, ribbons, cellophane, bubble wrap and waxy cartons such as eggnog cartons cannot (Port St. Lucie Recycling page). A Christmas tree goes out on the weekly yard waste day, stripped of lights, tinsel, ornaments and stand, and is mulched rather than landfilled.

Port St. Lucie garbage goes into the black city cart in tied bags, and the cart takes food waste, greasy pizza boxes, diapers, pet waste and single-use alkaline batteries but not liquids, paint, propane or hazardous waste (Garbage and Trash page).

The Port St. Lucie Garbage and Trash page lists other accepted items: dirty take-out containers, tissues and paper plates, shredded paper, food wrappers, cigarette butts and packing peanuts (Garbage and Trash page). It bans liquids, paints, certain batteries, propane tanks, explosives and corrosives, and keeps out special waste such as compact fluorescent bulbs, electronics, motor oil, pesticides and car batteries, along with auto parts, boat parts and empty gasoline cans. Garbage and yard waste may not be mixed.

Port St. Lucie carts go to the curb no earlier than 6 p.m. the night before and no later than 7 a.m. on pickup day, handle toward the house and lid opening toward the street, three feet from mailboxes, poles, trees and hydrants (Garbage and Trash page). Store-bought cans are not collected: the Cart and General FAQs explain that the automated trucks are built for city-issued carts only.

For summer odor, the Port St. Lucie page suggests double bagging, a cart liner, rinsing the cart and a one-to-one mix of vinegar and water sprayed inside the lid (Garbage and Trash page).

Port St. Lucie yard waste goes out weekly in a stacked pile of up to 4 cubic yards, with limbs no thicker than 6 inches, no longer than 4 feet and under 50 pounds each (Port St. Lucie Yard Waste page).

Loose grass clippings, leaves and pine needles must be in a container or in paper bags weighing under 50 pounds when full; the Port St. Lucie Yard Waste page recommends paper because it is mulched with the debris and plastic is not (Port St. Lucie Yard Waste page). The pile must be free of metal, food waste, garbage, soil, sod and stones, sit in front of the home rather than on a vacant lot, and stay clear of power lines and mailboxes. Palm fronds are exempt from the 4-foot length rule.

The rule comes from city code. Section 80.06(e), quoted on the same page, limits curbside yard waste to once a week on the designated day and requires larger pieces to be cut to 4 feet or less and stacked, while leaves, twigs and clippings go in cans or biodegradable bags (Port St. Lucie Yard Waste page).

A pile over 4 cubic yards is tagged and left for the owner to remove. Extra yard waste pickups can be booked through 1PSL at 772-871-1775, press 5, at a negotiated $18.50 per cubic yard, or residents can hire any disposal service (Port St. Lucie Yard Waste page).

Furniture, mattresses and appliances go out with the monthly Port St. Lucie bulk pickup, while hazardous waste and electronics go free to the St. Lucie County facility at 6120 Glades Cut-Off Road, Fort Pierce (Port St. Lucie Bulk Waste page; Household Hazardous Waste page).

The Port St. Lucie Bulk Waste page accepts furniture, mattresses, exercise equipment, broken-down swing sets and basketball goals, refrigerators, stoves and other appliances, and refuses contractor debris, concrete, land clearing debris, tires, engines, auto, boat and RV parts, propane and helium tanks and oil paint (Port St. Lucie Bulk Waste page). Latex paint is accepted only with the lid off and the paint dried hard. Cardboard boxes belong in the green cart, broken down.

The city's own Convenient Drop-off Center at 1501 SW Cameo Boulevard closed permanently on Jan. 5, 2026, which the notice attributes to declining usage and the cost of keeping the site open (Convenient Drop-off Center notice). For drop-off nearby, the notice points residents to the county Solid Waste, Baling and Recycling Facility: Port St. Lucie residents bring an ID as proof of residency, pay a $10 minimum for up to 250 pounds of yard waste, garbage or recyclables, and leave hazardous materials and electronic waste at no charge; the facility answers at 772-462-1768 (Household Hazardous Waste page).

The Office of Solid Waste also holds two free Household Hazardous Waste Collection Day events each year, and city buildings take rechargeable batteries such as cell phone batteries at no cost (Household Hazardous Waste page).

A lost, stolen or broken Port St. Lucie cart is replaced at no cost, while an extra garbage cart costs $84 a year, an extra recycling cart $70 a year and a size swap a one-time $75 (Cart and General FAQs).

Carts belong to the property, not the resident, so the Cart and General FAQs ask anyone moving out to leave the black and green carts behind for the next occupant. New homeowners request carts and residents report missed pickups through 1PSL at 772-871-1775, press 5, or the 1PSL website and app. Homeowners associations that regulate cart size or placement set their own rules, which the city tells residents to confirm with the association.

Service is paid once a year on the property tax bill as a non-ad valorem solid waste assessment, an existing charge that covers collection and disposal (Solid Waste assessment page). The Port St. Lucie Solid Waste assessment page gives the total increase as $20.89, bringing the annual assessment to $467.33 from $446.44, and says the City Council must approve future contract increases at a public hearing; no new mailed notice comes until the proposed amount exceeds $513.70. The page says the collection part of the increase is set by the city's contract with FCC Environmental Services to collect garbage, recycling and yard waste (Solid Waste assessment page).

Port St. Lucie stops all solid waste operations once the city is forecast to get tropical storm force winds within 96 hours, and residents must stop trimming vegetation once the city is in the National Weather Service cone of uncertainty (Severe Weather Waste Tips).

The Port St. Lucie Severe Weather Waste Tips page cites City Ordinance Section 98.09(a) for those rules and asks residents to secure carts away from the curb, ideally in a garage, and to tie down loose debris before the storm (Severe Weather Waste Tips). It recommends finishing major tree cutting between December and April, before the June 1 to November 30 hurricane season. After the storm, the city's first priority is clearing roadways; garbage, vegetation and bulk debris should be kept in separate piles, away from trees and power lines, because trucks cannot collect piles under them (Severe Weather Waste Tips).

The Port St. Lucie hurricane preparedness guide covers evacuation and shelters, and the city utilities guide covers water and sewer accounts. Last verified: October 22, 2026, when the ten Office of Solid Waste pages for schedules, carts, recycling, yard and bulk limits, hazardous waste, the closed drop-off center, the assessment and storm rules were each read again.