Trash and Recycling
Trash & Recycling Collection
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: City-wide holidays will delay collection by one day for the rest of the week (Friday’s collection moves to Saturday, for example).
Early Trash Pickup- Jan. 16
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
- Pig Penn Hauling | 717-238-1290
- Dirty Dog Hauling | 717-232-4009 | dirtydoghauling.com
- Junk Man Hauling | 717-379-9996
- 1.800.GOT.JUNK | 1-800-468-5865 | 1800gotjunk.com
- Junk King | 215-307-6313
- SHE DOES HAULING | 717-219-3584 | shedoeshauling.com