icon 10 North 2nd Street, Harrisburg, PA 17101 icon (717) 255-3040
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Trash and Recycling

Garbage Truck

Sanitation Office

About Us
The Sanitation Office is responsible for the collection and disposal of residential solid waste for over 20,000 households and businesses in the City of Harrisburg.

Residents are assigned a designated date for their garbage and recycling collections. These dates are updated periodically throughout the year to accommodate City holidays and furlough days.

The Department of Public Works is dedicated to improving recycling service to residents and increasing the amount of recyclables collected and recovered in the most cost- effective manner possible. Recycling conserves natural resources, supports jobs, and saves the City money. Every ton recycled saves the City and its residents money on avoided trash disposal fees and through revenues gained from the sale of some recyclables.

 City of Harrisburg Trash and Recycling Schedule for 2026

All of the residential trash and recycling in Harrisburg is collected by employees of the City’s Department of Public Works. Every resident is serviced once a week; the city is divided into five zones, one for each day of the week. We invite you to visit Recycle Coach where you can find your collection schedule by entering your address.

Every customer is to use the standard trash and recycling containers provided by the City. All containers are to be placed at the appointed collection location the evening before the assigned day of collection. If you have questions about waste containers or where they should be placed on collection day, or about your account, please call 717-412-4320.

Each household is entitled to dispose of one bulk item each week, such as a piece of furniture, a mattress, a bedspring, a role of carpeting, etc. Large appliances are not included in bulk items and are subject to a removal fee. Please direct questions regarding the disposal of large appliances to the Department of Public Works. Please do not pile bulk items in front of your property. Only one will be collected each week; all others are subject to a fine.

Note: Citywide holidays will delay collection by one day for the rest of the week (Friday’s collection moves to Saturday, for example).

 Trash/Sanitation

Please put these in your City trash bin, and keep them out of the recycling bin: 

  • Glass windows, mirrors, and ceramics
  • Food; Food-soiled paper and plastic
  • Diapers
  • Shipping or padded envelopes
  • Plastic Containers (numbered # 3, 4, 6, 7)
  • Plastic food wrappers
  • Plastic packaging of any type
  • Wet papers or cardboard
  • Pizza Boxes
  • Wax-coated cardboard
  • Used paper towels or tissues
  • Aluminum foil
  • Plastic tableware (knives, forks, etc.)
  • Light bulbs & Christmas lights
  • Plastic Bags (including grocery bags) please recycle plastic bags at your grocery store
  • Garden hoses

 Recycling
Place the following items in your City recycling bin for collection:

Plastic
Containers labeled “1” or “PET” (example: water and soda bottles,), “2” or “HDPE” (milk and detergent jugs) and “5” or “PP” (yogurt, margarine, food storage tubs, bottle tops)

  • Bottles: water, juice, soda, milk, ketchup, mustard, shampoo, detergent. Please remove caps!
  • Tubs from yogurt, cottage cheese, margarine, etc.

Aluminum and Steel Containers (Empty and rinse)

  • Tin cans and food containers
  • Soda cans
  • Empty aerosol spray bottles
  • Empty paint cans (if you can’t use up old paint, fill the can with kitty litter, let it dry, then place the litter in the trash and recycle the container)

Paper

  • Newspaper, magazines, phone books (bundled into paper bags)
  • Cartons: milk, soup, wine, juice (no straws please)

At this time, our recycler does not want office paper, junk mail or shredded paper. Please place these in the trash.

If you have a lot of office paper or shredded paper (enough to fill multiple boxes or bags), please call (717) 412-4320 to arrange for collection and recycling.

 Corrugated Boxes

Please flatten cardboard boxes and tie in bundles if possible. Stack these at the curb on trash day. You can include food boxes and other brown paper (remove all plastic packaging).

If the weather is wet on trash day, please consider waiting a week to put your cardboard out for collection. 

Please avoid food-stained or wax-coated boxes. Place them in the trash. Please do not recycle pizza boxes. 

 Glass Bottles & Jar Recycling

We prefer to recycle glass jars and bottles separately in Harrisburg.

Glass products such as mirrors, windows and drinking glasses, are not acceptable for recycling; they are to be placed in the trash.

Drop-off locations are noted in our Trash & Recycling map.

  • Dept. of Public Works (1820 Paxton Street)
  • Kline Plaza (rear parking lot)
  • Fire Station at 6th & Muench Streets
  • Fire Station at 16th & State Streets
  • Fire Station at 9 South 13th Street
  • Broad Street Market, Sayford & Fulton Streets
  • Hall Manor (17th & Hanover Streets)
  • William Howard Day Homes
  • Shipoke, carts located under the railroad bridge near the Passage to India Restaurant

 Recycle Coach
The Recycle Coach App will direct you on the disposal instructions for different items in the “What Goes Where” feature. You will also be able to view your trash collection and street cleaning schedule in the “View Schedule” section. 

 More About Recycling
Recycling is the easiest way to keep trash disposal costs to a minimum, which is why every resident can have extra recycling bins at no extra charge. In addition to the curb-side single-stream collection for every household, it is important for each resident to recycle several products that cannot be included with the single-stream:

Cardboard:  If you have more cardboard boxes than can fit easily into your recycling barrel, please break the boxes down and bundle them together with a piece of string. If it is raining on your collection day, please consider storing the cardboard until the next collection time. Please put pizza boxes in the trash.

Glass Bottles & Jars:  Bottles & Jars should be separated from other recyclables and dropped off at any of the 10 drop-off sites around the city. This glass is taken, at no charge to the City, by a recycler who gives it a new life.

Plastic shopping bags:  All Harrisburg-area grocery stores and many of the big-box stores have bins at their front doors to accept your plastic shopping bags and other plastic wrap such as dry-cleaning bags and the wrappers for paper towels and bath tissues. Please save your plastic bags and take them to the store for recycling. They are used to manufacture plastic lumber products.

Small Electric Appliances, including toasters, microwave ovens, TVs, and computers: Harrisburg residents are able to take old electronic devices in any condition to the Dauphin County Recycling Center.  It is free of charge for Dauphin County residents and very important to properly dispose these items.

Dauphin County Recycling Center 
Address: 1625 South Cameron St, Harrisburg PA 17104
Hours: 8:30am – 4:30pm (Monday – Friday)
Phone: (717) 982-6772

 Yard Waste (Leaves, Woody Waste from Trees, Shrubs)
Yard waste does not include grass; please cut grass often enough to avoid raking so clipping are natural mulch for the lawn. Do not place yard waste with your trash.
Place all yard waste in front of your property. A yard waste collection truck will pick up these items on street cleaning days:

  • Please bundle tree & shrub trimmings into paper compost bags separate from leaves
  • Please bundle leaves into paper compost bags separate from trimmings
  • Tie branches no more than 4 feet long in bundles.

For more information, call 717-412-4320 

 Construction and Demolition Waste
Construction and demolition waste does not go in the trash. Plaster board, sheet rock, lumber, rocks, soil, cinder blocks and plumbing fixtures should be taken to the transfer station at the Incinerator on 19th Street.

If you need to dispose of construction waste, are cleaning out a house, or have a large amount of yard waste, please consider renting a roll-off container or dumpster from Public Works for that purpose. Alternately you can hire a professional hauler.

Local Household Rubbish Haulers

Frequently Asked Questions
How should I dispose my Christmas Tree?
How can I view the Sanitation holiday schedule?
I have a discrepancy on my trash bill. Whom do I speak with?
When can I put out my trash?