Household Cleanup

The Streets Division will collect material outside of the carts in certain situations.

On this page you will you find:

Rules for Trash Collection Outside the Cart
Rules for Recycling Collection Outside the Cart
Links to Dumpster Rental Information
- The Streets Division does not issue permits for dumpsters. This is handled by different city agencies.
Link to the Large Item Collection Page
- Big items, like furniture, require you to schedule the pickup before you set the items out.
Link to the page listing donation resources
- There are a lot of places where you can donate usable items rather than just wasting them.

Trash Collection Outside the Carts

If you follow the below rules and limits, six or more bags of trash will be collected on your normal schedule trash pickup day.

Six or more bags will be collected on two consecutive weeks, or at the discretion of the Streets Division supervisors.
You must have a full trash cart along with the extra bags outside of the cart.
Extra trash must be 30-gallon bags. Do not put your extra trash into boxes, totes, or other containers. Do not scatter your small trash loose on the ground.
The max weight for each bag of trash is 40 pounds.

If you have fewer than 6 bags of trash that do not fit into your full cart, talk with your neighbor to see if they will let you place your extra trash into the cart they use.
Use a Streets Division drop-off site
If extra trash is a regular problem for your home, consider these options:
- Swapping out your small cart a larger size for free,
- Buying an extra cart, or
- Rethinking what you buy to make less waste.

Follow the below rules and limitations.

Recycling outside the cart will be collected only twice in a single calendar year, or at the discretion of a Streets Division supervisor, .

All recyclables must be clean, empty, and dry - just like recyclables inside the green cart.
Extra recycling will only be collected on the scheduled recycling day.
Recyclables must be in bags you can see through. They do not have to be perfectly clear bags, but they do need to be see-through enough where a reasonable person could look at them on the ground and understand that each bag has recyclables inside and not trash.
The max weight for each bag of recyclables is 40 pounds.
A maximum number of 10 bundles of cardboard are allowed. See the Extra Cardboard page for the rules about how to handle cardboard not in the cart.

Use a Streets Division drop-off site.
Talk with a neighbor to see if they have space the cart they use for the extra recyclables you have.
If excess recyclables is happens a lot at your home, try one of these options:
- Get a bigger cart for free
- Buy an extra cart if you already have the largest size
- Rethink what you buy to make less waste

Sometimes when cleaning out a house, it's easier to rent a dumpster or a moving pod.

The City of Madison does not provide dumpsters. Private trash collection companies do that. We cannot recommend one company to you over others.

In order to park a dumpster or a pod on the public street for a period of time, you will need to obtain a Street Occupancy Permit.

The Streets Division does not issue these permits - they come from other agencies.

Follow the steps below to get the process started:

Street Occupancy Permit – construction & dumpsters (Traffic Engineering)
Street Occupancy Permit - storage containers & detached trailers (Parking Division)