Weekly Collection Schedule
Official municipal pickup timing for East Palo Alto
Collections in California municipal routes run weekly (Mon-Fri). Your specific collection day is determined by your local neighborhood route.
State Mandate
Follow SB 1383 guidelines for food waste.
Black or Gray Bin (Trash)
Lids must be completely closed to prevent local wind-blown litter and deter pests. Carts must be curbside by 6:00 AM on collection days with front facing the street.
Accepted Items
- ✓Single-use plastic bags, wraps, and stretch films
- ✓Polystyrene and Styrofoam packaging blocks or cups
- ✓Disposable baby diapers and sanitary wipes
- ✓Mylar snack wrappers, chip bags, and candy packaging
- ✓Broken window glass, mirrors, and home ceramics
- ✓Bagged pet waste and kitty litter
Blue Bin (Recycling)
Do not bag recyclables; place all items completely loose, empty, rinsed, and dry inside the blue container.
Accepted Items
- ✓Flattened cardboard and clean paperboard packaging
- ✓Clean office paper, junk mail, catalogs, and newspapers
- ✓Glass bottles and food jars (rinsed and dry)
- ✓Aluminum beverage cans and clean foil baking trays
- ✓Steel, tin, and bi-metal food or soup cans
- ✓Rigid plastics marked with numbers #1 through #7
Do NOT Include
- ✕Loose plastic shopping bags or film wraps
- ✕Styrofoam blocks or food trays
- ✕Garden hoses, extension cords, or wire hangers (tanglers)
- ✕Food scrap leftovers, liquid residue, or grease-stained paper
- ✕Electronic waste or household batteries
Yard Waste Bin
Keep organic materials loose or inside certified BPI compostable bags. Keep dirt, rocks, concrete, animal feces, treated lumber, and palm fronds out of this cart.
Accepted Items
- ✓Kitchen food scraps (raw/cooked meat, bones, dairy, fruit, vegetables)
- ✓Food-soiled paper plates, paper towels, napkins, and greasy pizza boxes
- ✓Grass clippings, tree leaves, garden weeds, and flowers
- ✓Brush prunings and small branches under 4 feet long
- ✓Plain paper bags or BPI-certified compostable plastic bags
Bulky Item Pickup
Frequency
2 free curbside collections per calendar year
Placement
Place your scheduled bulk items at your roadside property edge on your pre-arranged collection morning by 6:00 AM, keeping them clear of parked vehicles, mailboxes, and low-hanging tree branches.
Accepted
- ✓ 12 garbage bags of loose garbage, recyclables, or compost (equivalent to 2 cubic yards, under 60 lbs)
- ✓ Oversized furniture (mattresses, box springs, sofas, tables, 4 tires without rims)
- ✓ Major home appliances (refrigerators, washers, dryers, stoves)
- ✓ One electronic waste item (televisions, computer monitors, microwaves)
Not Accepted
- ✕ Household hazardous waste (liquid paints, automotive chemicals, gasoline)
- ✕ Dirt, sand, rocks, sod, gravel, concrete, and asphalt
- ✕ Construction and home demolition debris (treated lumber, wood, drywall)
- ✕ Any individual item exceeding 200 lbs or 5 feet in length
The two annual curbside bulk pickups are completely free. Tenants in multi-family buildings must contact their property managers to coordinate bulk waste collection.
Holiday Schedule
General Rule
Recology San Mateo County operates normal collection schedules on almost all federal holidays throughout the year. The only exceptions are Christmas Day and New Year's Day. If your scheduled collection day falls on or after one of these two holidays, your curbside pickup is delayed by exactly one day for the remainder of that week.
Yard Waste Exception
Organic waste and recycling collections follow the same holiday delay schedule as standard garbage pickup.
If Christmas Day or New Year's Day falls on a Saturday or Sunday, there is no change or delay to regular weekday collection schedules.
Observed Holidays
!Contamination Tips
Loose Recyclables are Critical in the Blue Cart
Never place your recyclables inside plastic grocery bags. The sorting facility cannot process bagged recycling, so plastic-bagged recyclables are sent straight to the landfill. Keep all items loose in the blue cart.
Keep Pet Waste Out of Composting Loops
While pet waste and kitty litter are accepted in the gray trash container, they are strictly banned from the green compost cart. Animal feces contain dangerous pathogens that contaminate commercial agricultural compost.
Keep Plastic Bags in the Trash Cart
Never place soft plastic shopping bags, grocery wrap, or bubble wrap inside your blue recycling cart. These film plastics wrap tightly around mechanical sorting gears at regional facilities, posing immediate hazards and shutting down lines.
Seasonal Information
Autumn Leaf Fall and Runoff Protection
October - DecemberHeavy autumn leaf drops should be placed directly inside your green organics cart. Residents are strictly prohibited from sweeping or blowing leaves into street gutters, as loose foliage blocks storm sewer drains and municipal sweepers, causing street flooding.
Holiday Tree Recycling
JanuaryNatural, undecorated Christmas trees are collected curbside between January 5th and January 16th on your regular collection day. Remove all ornaments, lights, tinsel, and stands, and place the tree next to your green compost cart. Trees collected after this timeframe must be cut up and placed inside your green bin.
About East Palo Alto Waste Management
East Palo Alto's Collaborative Resource Recovery and Waste Management Services
In the vibrant Peninsula city of East Palo Alto, residential waste collection, organic composting, and recycling are managed through an exclusive franchise partnership with Recology San Mateo County. Guided by the Joint Powers Authority, RethinkWaste (South Bayside Waste Management Authority), this program is carefully tailored to maximize landfill diversion, preserve the local delicate marshlands of the San Francisco Bay, and keep neighborhood avenues clean.
Empowering Climate Action with Mandatory SB 1383 Composting
To align with California’s ambitious methane reduction directives under Senate Bill 1383, East Palo Alto residents are required to isolate compostable organics from standard landfill trash. Residents use their green-lidded compost cart to discard food scraps—such as meat, bones, and dairy—along with yard trimmings and food-soiled paper towels. To make indoor separation easy, Recology provides free countertop food scrap kitchen pails to single-family households.
Innovative Doorstep Disposal for Household Batteries and Cell Phones
East Palo Alto operates a specialized curbside collection program that allows residents to dispose of dead batteries and old cell phones without taking a trip to a hazardous waste depot. To take advantage of this free program, residents simply need to seal rechargeable, button, and single-use household batteries (with their metal terminals taped over) and retired cell phones inside a clear plastic zip-top bag and lay it directly on top of their closed black garbage cart lid on collection morning.
Twice-Annual On-Call Bulky Item Curbside Cleanups
To prevent illegal roadside dumping and keep the community pristine, East Palo Alto single-family residential accounts are entitled to schedule up to two free curbside Bulky Item Collection (BIC) appointments per calendar year. This scheduled service allows families to set out up to two cubic yards of bagged household waste, five electronic waste items, or large home furniture and appliances right at their curb on their standard collection day.
Drop-off Facilities
Shoreway Environmental Center (Transfer Station & Public Recycling)
333 Shoreway Road, San Carlos, CA 94070
Materials Accepted
San Mateo County Household Hazardous Waste (HHW) Facility
Varying drop-off locations (Free; appointments required)
Materials Accepted
Frequently Asked Questions
How do single-family homes schedule their free bulky item collection in East Palo Alto?
East Palo Alto single-family residents can schedule their two free annual on-call curbside cleanups by contacting Recology San Mateo County customer service at 650-595-3900. Be prepared to list the specific bulky items, electronics, or extra bags you plan to place curbside when making your appointment.
Where can East Palo Alto residents get a free kitchen organics pail?
To help make separating kitchen food scraps easy under California's SB 1383 law, free countertop food scrap kitchen pails are provided to residents. New residents or those with damaged pails can request a replacement by calling Recology San Mateo County at 650-595-3900.
How can I safely recycle household batteries curbside in East Palo Alto?
To recycle household batteries at the curb, cover the contact terminals of rechargeable and lithium-ion batteries with clear tape to prevent friction sparks. Put the batteries into any clear plastic zip-top bag, seal it securely, and place the bag directly on top of your black garbage cart lid on regular collection mornings.
Does my weekly collection schedule change on holidays in East Palo Alto?
Recology operates on schedule for almost all federal, state, and local holidays, including Thanksgiving, Memorial Day, and Labor Day. The only holidays that delay curbside garbage, recycling, and composting collection by exactly one day are Christmas Day (December 25th) and New Year's Day (January 1st).