Trash and Recycling

1. To sign up for the free compost program, please register with Watertown | Black Earth Compost. They will deliver the bin to you as part of the program.

2. To order a replacement trash bin, please order it through City Hall Systems - Online Payments. We will deliver it and swap it out with the broken on. Cost is $76

3. See the 2025 Trash and Recycling calendar (PDF).

a. To find if you are A or B week, please put your address in here: Property - City of Watertown, MA - MapGeo

Recycle Center Hours: Tuesday, Friday, Saturday from 9:00AM-4:00PM. Read more.

The Recycling Center, as well as the site that accepts our recycled materials delivered from the center, are operated by our contractor, Republic Services, and they have informed the City that they are unable to staff the center and manage pickups from the center during the strike.

Contact sheet for numbers to call to schedule curbside pickups of items (PDF) 

If you are looking for a way to donate your furniture and other home goods to a new home, ReSupply, a Boston-based & Veteran-operated company, provides high service fee-based home pickup option. ReSupply works with local charities to give your unwanted furniture and household goods a second life. ReSupply will go into the home, go up and down stairs, and even disassemble items if needed! Residents receive a tax credit for their donation as well.

Responsibilities

Watertown offers Trash and Recycling pickup. See the 2025 Trash and Recycling Collection Calendar and Smart Recycling Guide (PDF). The Trash and Recycling Map will help you locate your Trash and Recycling pick-up day and week.

• All trash and recycle containers must be out by 7:00 AM. Residents are encouraged to put their containers out on the curb after 7PM the night before their collection day.
• Place containers in the middle of your driveway opening for pickup, avoiding parked cars.
• Bins must be at least three feet from any other object (cars, trucks, other bins, street poles…etc.). Drivers are not required to get out of their trucks to reposition bins. Bins that are inaccessible will be skipped and residents will need to wait until their next collection day.
• All recycling and waste must be in the container! Any overflow of waste must be disposed of privately, and any overflow of recyclables can be brought to the Recycle Center.
• Bag your trash prior to placing it in the black container with the lids completely closed.
• Do not bag your recycling. Bagged recycling will not be collected.
• Recycling collection weeks are A or B. Recycling is collected every other week. Please check your collection week here.

Do not place any of the following materials in single stream recycling:

• Absolutely NO plastic bags and other film plastics (e.g. plastic bags, cling wrap, rubber gloves, agricultural film, boat shrink wrap) - Plastic film and bags tangle with the rotating sorting equipment at a recycling facility and cause damage to machinery or injury to workers. Bring plastic bags and films to collection bins at participating grocery stores.
• Bulky rigid plastics (e.g. plastic buckets, crates) - Large plastic items are too big for MRFs to handle. Watertown collects these materials at the recycle center.
• Polystyrene or polyethylene foam (e.g. Styrofoam) - These materials are often used as packing and shipping materials, or as disposable food and beverage containers. Although these items will often have a recycling triangle on them, they should never be placed in the recycling bin. Save Styrofoam for recycling events hosted by the DPW. Styrofoam must be white, firm, and snap when broken to be collected at events. No packing peanuts or takeout containers. Place those in your trash.
• Black plastic (e.g. takeout containers) - In the majority of Massachusetts’ MRFs, the scanners used to sort materials are unable to recognize black plastic materials, which leads them to be routed for disposal.
• Items smaller than a smart phone (e.g. plastic straws, miniature bottles, utensils and lids) - These are incompatible with MRF equipment, since small or thin items end up falling through the cracks. Plastic caps/lids are collected separately at the Recycle Center.

Trash and Recycling Totes Information

• Replacement recycle or trash totes are available at the Department of Public Works (DPW) for $76. The new totes can be paid for in person at DPW or online.
• Residents may purchase an additional recycle tote for $90 as part of the 2^nd recycle tote program. As a stipulation of this program, 2^nd recycle totes that are tagged for contamination more than once will be taken back by the city without refund.
• Purchased totes will be delivered to your home.
• All trash totes for purchase are 64-gallons and all new recycle totes for purchase are 96-gallons.
• Each household is only allowed to have one trash tote.

A holiday postpones Trash and Recycling collection by one day. Here are the 2025 holidays:

• New Year's Day: January 1
• Martin Luther King Day: January 20
• Presidents Day: February 17
• Patriots Day: April 21
• Memorial Day: May 26
• Juneteenth: June 19
• Independence Day: July 4
• Labor Day: September 1
• Indigenous Peoples Day/Columbus Day: October 13
• Veterans Day: November 11
• Thanksgiving: November 27
• Christmas: December 25

Textile Recycling: Learn about Textiles recycling pickup and drop off.

Composting: Get information home composting and compost pick-up options available. 

Yard Waste: In 2025, yard waste will be picked up on your scheduled trash day the three full weeks in April, and will then change to periodic weeks of pickups throughout May, June, July and August. Please reference the 2025 collection calendar (PDF) to check which weeks. It will return to every week from September through the second week in December. Yard waste includes leaves, grass clippings, weeds, twigs and brush, no dirt or rocks. Loose brush must be tied into manageable bundles. Branches should be bundled in three foot lengths, no more than three inches in diameter. All yard waste must be out by 7:00 AM. If you would like more information, call 617-972-6420 or email recycle@watertown-ma.gov. Do not use plastic bags. Place in paper bags or loosely in a trash container. Yard Waste collection dates are indicated with a leaf on the 2025 Calendar (PDF).

Christmas Trees: Public Works will collect and chip Christmas trees during the month of January only. Place at curb on your regular trash collection day. Bare trees only — no lights, no plastic bags.

Household Furniture Disposal:

Please schedule and pay for a curbside collection through Republic services. The Republic call center can be reached at either 781-289-0500 or 844-737-8254. Republic will collect wooden and upholstered furniture, such as couches, rugs, wooden chairs, tables, bookcases…etc. Collections happen every Wednesday. Price per pickup depends on size and type of item. For more information, visit the burnable items page. The City does not collect construction debris such as toilets, sinks, cabinets, or tubs.

TVs and Computer Monitors: Collected every Thursday. Please schedule and pay for a curbside collection through Republic services. The number to call is 844-737-8254.  Price for pickup depends on size and type of item. TVs and monitors can be dropped off at the recycle center for free. Visit the TV/Monitors page.

Hazardous Waste Disposal: Get information about Hazardous Waste Disposal.

White Goods and Appliances:

Please schedule and pay for a curbside collection through Republic services for all household appliances. The number to call is 844-737-8254.  Collections happen every Thursday. The Price for pickup depends on size and type of item. Items include air conditioners, washers, dryers, stoves, hot water heaters, dehumidifiers, microwaves, refrigerators and freezers. Visit the White Goods page for more information.

If you need more specific help finding out if an item is appropriate for the trash or recycling, use the handy Recyclopedia tool to find out.

Looking for a location to drop items off we don’t accept at the Recycle Center? Use this Recycle Smart Beyond the Bin guide to see what options are nearby.