Trash and Recycling in Unincorporated St. Lucie County

Collection days outside Port St. Lucie and Fort Pierce are looked up on the county's interactive Trash and Recycling Schedule map, and every container should be out before 7:00 a.m. on the scheduled morning.

That map sits on the county Solid Waste Division page, next to StLucieCountyRecycles.com, a county sorting app for working out which bin a household item belongs in. On the county's customer service page, residents of the unincorporated area are sent to the contracted hauler, Waste Pro, at 772-595-9390, for service requests and comments. The same page notes that collection times may vary and are subject to change.

Three holidays pause St. Lucie County service: Independence Day (July 4), Thanksgiving and Christmas. On any other holiday the trucks run as usual, and after one of those three the garbage, recycling and yard waste routes pick up again on the following scheduled collection day (county holiday schedule).

The county program covers only addresses outside city limits; Fort Pierce runs its own Solid Waste Division, and Port St. Lucie has its own Office of Solid Waste.

The county's contact list by area names the City of Fort Pierce Solid Waste Division at 100 North US 1 (772-467-3000) for city residents, and tells Port St. Lucie residents to report a disruption to 1PSL at 772-871-1775, pressing 5, or through the 1PSL app. The schedules differ by jurisdiction. Fort Pierce says it collects household garbage in green carts twice per week and blue recycling carts once weekly, with a customer service desk at (772) 467-3794 (Fort Pierce Solid Waste Division), while Port St. Lucie picks up garbage, recycling and yard waste once a week and bulk waste once a month on the regular day (Port St. Lucie collection schedule).

Cart colors are a practical trap for anyone moving between the two systems. In unincorporated St. Lucie County the green cart is the recycling cart, according to the county recycling page, while inside Fort Pierce the green cart holds household garbage and recycling goes in the blue cart (Fort Pierce Solid Waste Division).

In unincorporated St. Lucie County every bag must be tied and every can must hold 32 gallons or less, with no single container weighing 50 lbs or more, all set no more than 2 feet from the road or curb.

The county keeps the three streams apart: yard waste and recyclables may not be mixed into garbage. The recycling cart is placed opposite the mailbox, clear of structures, cars and other trash piles, with its handle facing the property (St. Lucie County set-out guidance).

Containerized clippings and neatly stacked branches go out at the curb in unincorporated St. Lucie County, but a large cleanout calls for a rented dumpster and project debris for a commercial container.

On its customer service page, St. Lucie County encourages composting yard waste and leaving grass clippings on the lawn after mowing. For those who prefer curbside pickup, clippings, leaves and small twigs must be in a container, and limbs, branches and palm fronds are stacked so that a worker can reach all the way around the stack. A resident with more than a few branches is asked not to build a tangled heap.

Move-out and renovation waste falls outside routine pickup. St. Lucie County explains that loose piles draw pickers and scrappers who spread them around, and asks residents to order a dumpster for big piles of bulky trash. Debris from construction, demolition or remodeling that builds up on a job site has to go in a commercial container. Anyone who hauls that material in person pays by the ton at the county facility, where the fee schedule lists construction and demolition debris at $69.00 per ton, $10.00 minimum.

St. Lucie County runs single stream recycling, so metal, glass and plastic containers ride in the same wheeled green cart as paper and cardboard.

Accepted items, per the single stream recycling page, are bottles, cans, jars and jugs made of aluminum, glass, plastic, steel or tin, along with cardboard, paper and paperboard. The 64-gallon cart has wheels and a lid attached, and every single-family household in unincorporated St. Lucie County and in Port St. Lucie has one. Residents of a building without recycling can bring materials to the county facility on Glades Cut-Off Road, stop at the Scale House window and tell the operator what they are unloading.

Only recyclables go in the cart, and the county asks that everything sit completely inside it so that it is collected. Carts are emptied by compressed natural gas trucks whose automated arms are controlled from inside the truck, and the county notes those trucks run quieter than diesel ones (St. Lucie County cart rules). For hazardous items, which the county calls dangerous in recycling carts, the recycling page points to the hazardous waste program and the county line, (772) 462-1768.

Self-haul loads and household chemicals go to the county Solid Waste Baling and Recycling Facility at 6120 Glades Cut-Off Road in Fort Pierce, where most household hazardous waste is accepted from residents at no charge.

Weekday hours run from 7:00 a.m. until 5:00 p.m. and Saturday hours from 8:00 a.m. until 1:00 p.m., with hand unloaders required on the scale by 4:15 p.m. on weekdays and 12:15 p.m. on Saturdays (county hazardous waste page). Garbage is weighed in at $79.00 a ton, yard waste and land clearing debris at $69.00 a ton and clean wood at $25.00 a ton, each with a $10.00 minimum, under rates effective February 1, 2025; personal checks are not accepted (St. Lucie County waste fees).

For household hazardous waste, the county charges only for cylinder tanks: a fire extinguisher, or a helium tank of 14.9 cubic feet or smaller, is $5.00 each. Antifreeze, gas and motor oil come in containers of up to 5 gallons, three such containers per household per day at most, and dry or granular products up to 100 pounds. The list of accepted items also covers cleaners and polishes, cooking oil in labeled containers, pool and spa chemicals, oil-based paint, thinners, lighter fluid, rechargeable batteries and vehicle batteries. Turned away are ammunition, fireworks, flares and other explosives, smoke alarms and other radioactive items, acetylene, argon and nitrous oxide tanks, waste generated by businesses and waste from outside the county. Medication is not accepted, and the county refers residents to the Sheriff's Office at 772-462-7300. Dried latex paint and single-use alkaline batteries can simply go in the household garbage (St. Lucie County hazardous waste list). Illicit discharge into stormwater systems in the unincorporated area, such as household chemicals, chlorinated pool water or sediment, is reported to the Illicit Discharge Hotline, 772-462-1297.

From June 1 through November 30, St. Lucie County asks residents to finish tree trimming well ahead of any storm, stop once a watch or warning is posted, and sort debris into separate piles once the storm passes.

Before the season, the county hurricane debris page suggests servicing the generator, getting rid of stale gasoline and removing loose yard items that wind could throw. Branches cut too close to a storm sit uncollected until it is over, so heavy trimming, tree removal and debris-producing construction should wait, and carts and cans should be tied down or brought in. Afterward, garbage, vegetation and other storm debris each get their own pile, bagged household garbage still goes out on its normal day, and nothing should be stacked beneath trees or power lines, where trucks are unable to collect it. The county posts a debris separation flyer in English and Spanish on that page, and evacuation zones and shelters are covered in the St. Lucie County hurricane guides.

For a missed pickup, the county Solid Waste Division page routes requests, compliments and complaints about collection to the customer service line named above, and residents may also reach St. Lucie County Solid Waste at 772-462-1768 or solidwaste@stlucieco.gov with questions or service concerns. The county's general address is 2300 Virginia Avenue, Fort Pierce, 772-462-1100, as shown on the county website. Water, sewer and the other utilities for each part of the county are in the St. Lucie County utilities guide. Last verified: October 22, 2026, against the county's curbside, single stream recycling, hazardous waste, storm debris and fee pages, plus the Fort Pierce and Port St. Lucie collection pages, for which agency collects where and what each one allows at the curb.