Last checked: September 9, 2026
If you just moved to Cary, or you are standing in the driveway at 6:55 a.m. wondering whether this is your recycling week, there is one thing to settle before anything else: your pickup day belongs to your street address, not to the town as a whole. Cary does not publish a neighborhood-by-neighborhood day list, and no guide — including this one — can hand you a weekday from a table. Cary assigns curbside routes by area, and the only official way to get the day and the recycling week that actually apply to your home is to look your address up.
The second thing to settle is whether town curbside service applies to you at all. Everything on this page describes Town of Cary solid waste service inside the town's corporate limits. Cary's limits sit in both Wake and Chatham counties, and a mailing address that says "Cary" is not proof of town-limits status. If your home is outside the corporate limits, or if you are in an apartment, townhome, or HOA community with its own arrangement, your collection may work differently. Verify your own address first, then use the rules below.
This guide covers the 2026 service picture: who collects, how the frequency works, the cart preparation and set-out rules that decide whether a cart is emptied, yard waste limits and the seasonal loose-leaf program, how bulky items and appliances are handled and what they cost, how holidays shift service, and what to do when a pickup is missed.
Cary Trash Pickup: The Short Answer
The Town of Cary runs its own curbside collection; there is no contract hauler for standard service. Household garbage is collected weekly at the curb, yard waste is collected weekly on that same day, and recycling is collected every other week on that same day.
Your exact pickup day and your recycling week depend on your address. Look them up with Cary Collects at carync.gov/collects or the Cary Collects app, or call 311 — or (919) 469-4000 from outside town limits.
Set carts at the curb no earlier than dusk the night before collection and no later than 7 a.m. on collection day, with the lid arrows pointing toward the street. Remove emptied carts before 6 a.m. the next day.
Bulky items such as furniture and gas grills are collected by appointment only, at $15 for the first item and $8 for each additional item on the same trip.
Cary curbside service covers addresses inside the town's corporate limits, and Cary's limits lie in both Wake and Chatham counties.
That is the whole schedule answer in one pass. If you remember nothing else: weekly garbage, weekly yard waste on the same day, every-other-week recycling on that same day, and a day that is yours alone.
Quick Facts
| Category | Detail |
|---|---|
| Provider | Town of Cary Department of Public Works (town-run municipal service, not a contracted hauler for standard curbside) |
| Counties | Wake County (primary); portions of the corporate limits sit in Chatham County |
| Garbage | Weekly at the curb, in the Town-provided rollout cart |
| Yard waste | Weekly on your regular garbage day |
| Recycling | Every other week, on the same day as garbage and yard waste |
| Find your day | Cary Collects address lookup at carync.gov/collects, the Cary Collects app (Apple and Google), or 311 |
| Set-out window | No earlier than dusk the night before; no later than 7 a.m. on collection day |
| Cart back in | Before 6 a.m. the day after collection |
| Bulky items | Appointment only; $15 first item, $8 each additional on the same trip |
| Appliances | Curbside pickup by request (fee); $10 per appliance at the Citizen's Convenience Center; no charge at the Wake County Multi-Material Facility |
| Additional cart | $4 per month for a 65-gallon or 95-gallon solid waste cart |
| Sanitation fee | FY2027 adopted budget sets $28 per month effective July 1, 2026; the town's Utility Rates page has still listed $26 per month — confirm before budgeting |
| Drop-off site | Citizen's Convenience Center, 313 N. Dixon Ave. — permanently closes to the public at 6 p.m. December 30, 2026 |
| Contact | 311 inside Cary; (919) 469-4000 outside town limits; requests at services.townofcary.org |
Who Collects Trash in Cary (Local Basics)
Cary is a rare case among North Carolina towns of this size: the municipality itself collects the trash. The Town of Cary Department of Public Works runs curbside garbage, yard waste, and recycling as a municipal service, using automated-arm trucks that lift and dump Town-issued rollout carts at the curb. The same department handles storm debris collection. Because the service is town-run, there is a single authority for schedules, carts, preparation rules, and fees — and no second company to call when something goes wrong.
That single authority is worth knowing by name. Public Works is who you contact for a missed pickup, a new cart, a bulky item appointment, a chipper request, or a question about whether your street is served at all.
The contact paths are:
- Call 311 inside Cary, or (919) 469-4000 from outside town limits, to reach a Public Works Citizen Advocate on weekdays from 7 a.m. to 7 p.m. After business hours, only water and sewer emergencies are accepted.
- Submit a service request at services.townofcary.org for missed pickups, cart issues, bulky appointments, and special collections.
- Town Hall: 316 N. Academy St., Cary, NC 27513.
- William M. Garmon Operations Center: 400 James Jackson Avenue, Cary, NC 27513, open Monday through Friday 8 a.m. to 5 p.m.
One practical change older residents may still notice: Cary moved away from printing annual leaf and recycling calendars and now directs everyone to a digital lookup. If you are working from a paper calendar you picked up years ago, or a magnet on the refrigerator, treat it as historic. The town also offers a printed or mailed recycling calendar on request by calling (919) 469-4090 if you prefer paper, but the schedule data itself is digital and changes with route adjustments.
Find Your Collection Day and Recycling Week (Address and Zone Lookup)
This is the section that answers the question you actually came here with, and it is the only honest way to answer it.
1. Cary Collects at carync.gov/collects. This is the primary self-service lookup. Enter your home address and it returns your collection day, your recycling week, and any holiday-adjusted dates for the coming weeks. It also hosts a Waste Wizard materials search, which is where you check what happens to a specific item — paint, batteries, a mattress, a Christmas tree. The lookup is the authoritative check during holiday weeks, because that is where shifts are posted.
2. The Cary Collects app. The same data is available for Apple and Google devices, and the app supports reminders and notifications. If you have ever wondered on a Tuesday evening whether tomorrow is a recycling week, this is the feature that solves it. Turn reminders on once after you look up your address and you will not have to look it up again.
3. 311, or (919) 469-4000 from outside town limits. The phone path reaches a Citizen Advocate on weekdays 7 a.m. to 7 p.m. Use it if you are moving in and need to know whether your address is served, if you want to confirm eligibility, or if the lookup is not returning your address.
A note on the town's route data: Cary publishes its collection schedule as polygons — contiguous route areas — rather than as a simple zone list, so there is no clean "Zone A / Zone B" table anyone can reproduce for you. The town rebalanced curbside routes from Tuesday–Friday to Monday–Thursday at some point, and most routes now run Monday through Thursday. The specific day still has to be confirmed for your address, and the year of that rebalancing is not something this page will state, because the official notice showed only "effective Monday, November 6" without a confirmed year.
Here is the rule to take away from this section: no static day list, neighborhood table, or ZIP-code chart should be trusted, including any you find on this site. Cary assigns routes per address. Look yours up.
What Gets Collected and How Often
Three streams leave your curb, on two rhythms.
Garbage — weekly. Household garbage goes out in the Town-provided rollout cart, once a week, on the same day as yard waste. Automated trucks dump the cart in place, so an overloaded or wrongly placed cart is simply not collected.
Recycling — every other week. Recycling rides the same day as garbage and yard waste, but only on your recycling week. The town provides a 95-gallon recycling roll cart, and accepted items go loose in the cart — never bagged. Recycling service covers all Town of Cary solid waste customers and individually owned multi-family complexes. If you live in an apartment community or an HOA with a private arrangement, your setup may differ, so confirm with your property manager or 311 rather than assuming the standard rules apply.
Yard waste — weekly, with adjustments. Residential yard waste (grass clippings, brush, leaves, limbs) is collected weekly at the curb on your regular garbage collection day. The day can be altered by a holiday or after a major storm.
The governing documents behind all of this are Town Policy 83: Solid Waste Collection, which applies within the town's municipal limits, and the Code of Ordinances Chapter 26: Solid Waste Management. Note that the policy statement on the town's site is dated 2014, so treat the policy number as context and confirm with the town that no later amendment changes what you are reading.
If you see a guide describing weekly recycling, or daily on-demand pickup, it is out of date. Cary's residential rhythm is weekly garbage, weekly yard waste on that same day, and every-other-week recycling on that same day.
Step-by-Step: Prep and Set Out Your Carts
Follow this the night before your collection day.
1. Prepare garbage for the cart. Seal household garbage in plastic bags inside the Town rollout cart. Do not mix yard waste into the garbage cart. Extinguish ashes fully before they go in. Contain medical waste and syringes in a puncture-proof container — not loose in the cart.
2. Prepare recycling. Put accepted items loose in the 95-gallon recycling cart. Never bag them. Bagged recycling is a common reason a cart gets left behind, because the sorting process cannot open bags.
3. Prepare yard waste within the size limits. Yard waste is accepted in reusable containers with handles (maximum 32 gallons, 25 pounds each), paper bags (25 pounds maximum), or securely tied bundles no more than 4 feet long and 24 inches in diameter, with no individual piece more than 4 inches thick. Limbs must be under 4 feet long and under 4 inches in diameter. The maximum curbside yard waste volume is 240 cubic feet per home per collection day — 8 feet long by 5 feet wide by 6 feet tall. Plastic bags are not collected, and yard waste mixed with soil, rocks, or trash will not be collected.
4. Place carts at the curb — not in the street. Put the carts at the curb no earlier than dusk the night before collection and no later than 7 a.m. on collection day. Keep them out of the roadway and clear of light poles, mailboxes, and fire hydrants. Leave ample room between the carts and any yard waste. Point the arrows on the lids toward the street, so the truck's arm grabs the cart from the correct side.
5. Bring the empty carts back in. Emptied carts must be off the curb before 6 a.m. the next day. This is not just etiquette — Code Sec. 26-44 provides for a roll-in fee for a cart left at the curb, assessed starting with the second occurrence within a 12-month period. The fee amount is set by the annual budget ordinance; the town has not published the dollar figure, so call 311 if you are trying to find out what it would cost you.
6. If you cannot bring carts to the curb, apply for help. The Curbside Assistance Program serves residents who are permanently or temporarily physically unable to bring carts to the curb. It requires a completed form with doctor verification and town review, so start the process before your first missed collection rather than after.
If excess garbage will not fit in the cart, it can be taken to the Citizen's Convenience Center at no charge, or a special collection can be scheduled — with fees potentially applying, and the amount not published.
Yard Waste, Loose Leaves, and Chipper Service
Yard waste is where Cary households most often run into trouble, because the volume rules are specific and the seasonal leaf program works differently from the weekly yard waste collection.
Weekly yard waste. Your yard waste goes out on your regular garbage day, prepared as described above: reusable containers, paper bags, or tied bundles within the size limits, with a 240 cubic-foot cap per household per collection day. Yard waste can also be dropped at the Citizen's Convenience Center at no charge, subject to the Center's size limits. Contractors are not permitted at the Center and must use a commercial yard waste facility instead — so if you hired a landscaper, the responsibility for disposal sits with them, not with your residential allowance.
Loose leaves, seasonal program. Cary runs a town-wide loose-leaf collection each fall and winter, and the dates are set annually rather than fixed forever. In the 2025–2026 season, town-wide sweeps began November 3, with additional sweeps on December 1 and January 5. Crews make at least two passes through every neighborhood before Christmas Day, a live collection map tracks status by street at carync.gov/leaves, and the collected leaves are composted and reused rather than landfilled.
After the town-wide season, leaf collection continued by request at no charge from February 9 to March 31, 2026, with a fee applying to additional pickup requests after March 31, 2026. Treat every one of those dates as an example of how the program works, not a calendar you can plan next year around — next season's sweep dates are set annually, so check carync.gov/leaves when fall arrives.
If you would rather not wait for a sweep, you have options: compost leaves in place, bag them for regular weekly yard waste collection (paper bags, within the weight limit), or take them to the leaf disposal site on North Dixon Avenue. A special loose leaf collection can also be requested, and fees may apply.
Chipper service. For tree limbs too large for the yard waste rules — longer than 4 feet, and under 14 inches in diameter — the town offers chipper service by request, scheduled through services.townofcary.org or by calling 311. Fees apply, and the amount is not published in the town's solid waste pages, so confirm the cost when you schedule.
Christmas trees. Christmas trees are collected as normal yard waste. Search "Christmas Tree" in the Waste Wizard for preparation and curbside pickup guidance, since how the tree is prepared determines whether it is collected.
Bulky Items, Appliances, and Special Waste by Appointment
Nothing large is picked up automatically in Cary. Bulky trash and special waste are request-only, and setting an item at the curb without scheduling it is not a pickup.
Bulky trash. Items too large for a rollout cart — large TVs, furniture, gas grills, wheelbarrows, bicycles, swing sets — are collected by appointment. Request the appointment at services.townofcary.org or by calling 311. The fee is $15 for the first item and $8 for each additional item collected during the same trip. Scheduling several items together is what keeps the cost down, because the additional-item rate applies per item on the same trip.
Appliances and white goods. Refrigerators, dishwashers, washers, dryers, and similar appliances are banned from North Carolina landfills, and so are televisions and monitors, which is why the town offers three paths:
- Curbside pickup by request, for a fee. The exact amount is not published on the town's garbage page, so ask 311 when you schedule.
- Drop-off at the Citizen's Convenience Center at 313 N. Dixon Ave., at $10 per appliance.
- Delivery to the Wake County Multi-Material Facility, at no charge.
Keep the closure date in mind for the second option: the Citizen's Convenience Center permanently closes to the public at 6 p.m. on December 30, 2026, so appliance drop-off there is a path with an expiration date.
Used motor oil and filters. Both are banned from North Carolina landfills and are collected and recycled free of charge by appointment through the town program. Oil must be in a plastic container no larger than 5 gallons, sealed with a screw-cap lid and labeled "Used Motor Oil." Filters must be triple-bagged. Schedule through services.townofcary.org or 311.
Residential cooking oil. Waste cooking oil — fats, oils, and grease — is collected curbside and recycled free of charge when scheduled through the town program.
Excess garbage. Garbage that will not fit in the cart can go to the Citizen's Convenience Center at no charge, or you can schedule a special collection, with fees potentially applying.
What You Pay: The Sanitation Fee and the Conflict Around It
This is the section where the official sources genuinely disagree, and the honest thing to do is show you the disagreement rather than pick a number for you.
The FY2027 adopted budget — covering July 1, 2026 through June 30, 2027 — sets a solid waste and recycling fee of $28 per month, up $2 from $26 per month in FY2026.
The town's Utility Rates page has still listed a sanitation fee of $26 per month, and the solid waste service hub displayed $26 on one load and $23 on a cached load.
Those are all official Town of Cary sources, and they do not agree. Before you budget, confirm the current amount on the Utility Rates page or on your own utility bill. If the number matters to you this month, call 311.
What is settled:
- An additional solid waste cart, 65-gallon or 95-gallon, is $4 per month, added to the utility bill.
- The cost of the standard rollout cart is included in the regular sanitation fee; a second cart carries the additional monthly charge set by the annual budget ordinance.
- Bulky trash is $15 for the first item and $8 for each additional item on the same trip.
- Appliance drop-off at the Citizen's Convenience Center is $10 per appliance.
What is not published anywhere in the town's solid waste pages, and therefore is not stated here as an amount: the roll-in fee for carts left at the curb, the curbside appliance pickup fee, the special or excess collection fee, and the chipper service fee. Each of those applies, and each is set elsewhere. Ask when you schedule, and ask before you set anything out.
Every dollar figure on this page was captured on September 9, 2026. Fees are reviewed and set through the annual budget process, so verify before you pay or before you drive across town with a truckload.
Holidays, Weather Delays, and the Citizen's Convenience Center Closure
Holidays. Cary observes New Year's Day, Martin Luther King Jr. Day, Good Friday, Memorial Day, Juneteenth, Independence Day, Labor Day, Veterans Day, Thanksgiving (Thursday and Friday), and Christmas (three working days). There is no curbside collection on an observed holiday, and shifts are posted in Cary Collects.
Two documented examples show the pattern. On Good Friday, April 3, 2026, there were no curbside collections and the Citizen's Convenience Center was closed. In the 2025 Christmas week, December 22–24 kept the regular schedule, December 25 had no collection, and the December 26 collection shifted from December 25.
Those are examples, not a table. No single official page publishes a fixed 2026–2027 holiday collection calendar, and this guide will not fabricate one. The rule is simple: no collection on an observed holiday, and the adjusted dates live in Cary Collects.
One unresolved point worth flagging honestly: older town notices have said yard waste is not collected during holiday weeks, while other notices show holiday weeks with shifted collection days. The two framings conflict, and this page will not resolve them by guessing. Check Cary Collects for the week in question.
Weather. Snow, ice, storms, and hurricanes can delay collection. The town posts a service banner and alerts — for example, a notice that curbside collection is delayed by one day. In an emergency suspension ordered by the Public Works Director, missed collections during the suspension are not made up.
The Citizen's Convenience Center closure. The Citizen's Convenience Center at 313 N. Dixon Ave., Cary, NC 27513 accepts residential solid waste, recycling, food waste, and yard waste. It is open Monday through Saturday 8 a.m. to 6 p.m. and Sunday 1 to 6 p.m., closed on Town holidays unless otherwise posted.
Public access ends permanently at 6 p.m. on December 30, 2026, and the site is closed from January 1, 2027. The reason is location: most of the operation sits in a North Carolina Railroad right-of-way, and federally funded rail improvements require the town to move operations out. Council is evaluating future options and no alternative has been selected.
Two things follow from that. First, curbside collection is not affected by the closure. Second, after January 1, 2027, residents are directed to their county's authorized disposal centers — Wake County solid waste and recycling options, or Chatham County Collection Centers — and fees may apply. If you have been relying on the Center for excess garbage, recycling overflow, or appliance drop-off, plan the transition now rather than in the last week of December.
Cary Town Limits vs Wake and Chatham County
Everything described on this page is Town of Cary curbside service inside the town's municipal or corporate limits. Town Policy 83 and Code Chapter 26 govern collection within those limits only.
Cary's corporate limits have been located in both Wake and Chatham counties for nearly a decade, and since the late 1990s Cary has accepted citizen-initiated annexation requests from Chatham County property owners rather than initiating annexation there. That history matters to a resident for one reason: the county name on your tax bill does not tell you whether you get town curbside service.
If your property has a Cary mailing address but no town-limits status, you are not automatically served. You may need a private hauler or county facilities.
Outside the town limits, the county options work like this:
- Wake County operates solid waste facilities and convenience centers for county residents, and its Multi-Material Facility accepts appliances at no charge.
- Chatham County operates 12 Collection Centers for household trash and recycling. Four are open six days a week and eight are closed on Wednesdays; all are closed Sundays. They are open to Chatham County residents only, require a current decal shown at every visit, and exclude businesses and out-of-county users. Chatham County does not operate curbside pickup — town-limit residents contact their town, and non-town residents their private hauler.
One question this page cannot answer for you: whether a Cary household inside the Chatham County portion qualifies for a Chatham County Collection Center decal. That eligibility was not resolved in the official materials, and the county requires both a current decal and county-resident status. Confirm with Chatham County before you load the truck.
Apartment and townhome residents, and households in HOA communities, should also confirm their own arrangement. Individually owned multi-family complexes are served by the town's recycling program, but some communities have different setups for garbage and yard waste. Your property manager or 311 is the right first call.
Missed Pickups and Service Requests
If your cart was out correctly by 7 a.m. and it was not emptied, work the sequence in order.
1. Check for a holiday shift or weather delay. Look up your address in Cary Collects. The lookup reflects holiday-adjusted dates, and a missed pickup is often simply a shifted one.
2. Submit a service request at services.townofcary.org, or call 311 — or (919) 469-4000 from outside town limits. Public Works Citizen Advocates are available weekdays from 7 a.m. to 7 p.m.
3. Re-check your cart placement while you wait. A cart left in the roadway, placed too close to a mailbox, light pole, or fire hydrant, pointed the wrong way, or blocked by a parked car is a common cause of a missed collection. The automated arm cannot reach what it cannot reach, and there is no crew member walking behind the truck to fix it.
One limitation to know: in an emergency suspension ordered by the Public Works Director — an act of God or circumstances outside town control — missed collections during the suspension are not made up.
Resident Scenarios
The new mover on a Cary mailing address outside town limits. You close on a house in a Chatham County portion with a Cary mailing address, roll the cart out on Monday, and nothing happens. First call: 311 or (919) 469-4000 to confirm whether the address is inside the corporate limits and served by the town. If it is not, you are looking at a private hauler or a county facility, and the Chatham decal question above becomes the next thing to resolve.
The household that keeps missing recycling week. Recycling is every other week, on the same day as garbage. Because garbage goes weekly, it is easy to roll both carts out and lose track of the cycle. Fix: look up your address in Cary Collects once, then turn on app reminders. The blue/yellow week designation shown for your address is the answer.
The homeowner with a driveway full of limbs after a storm. Limbs under 4 feet long and under 4 inches in diameter go out as normal yard waste on your regular day, within the 240 cubic-foot cap, prepared as containers, paper bags, or tied bundles. Limbs longer than 4 feet require chipper service by request, with fees applying. Either way, get it prepared to spec — bundle anything loose, and leave plastic bags out of it entirely.
The family replacing a refrigerator. Three paths: schedule curbside appliance pickup by request (fee, amount not published — ask 311), drop it at the Citizen's Convenience Center for $10 per appliance while the Center is still open, or take it to the Wake County Multi-Material Facility at no charge. White goods are banned from North Carolina landfills, so a curbside garbage cart is not an option, and neither is leaving it beside the cart.
The renter with a mound of moving boxes. Excess recycling beyond the 95-gallon cart can go to the Citizen's Convenience Center at no charge while the Center is still open to the public (public access ends December 30, 2026), or you can flatten and stage boxes across recycling weeks. Recycling goes loose in the cart, never bagged, so box volume fills the cart quickly.
The resident who cannot physically roll a cart. The Curbside Assistance Program exists for exactly this. It requires a completed form with doctor verification and town review, so apply early — before the first cart sits at the curb and triggers a roll-in fee.
The household clearing out a garage. Schedule bulky pickup before anything touches the curb: $15 for the first item and $8 for each additional item on the same trip. Group the load onto one appointment. Unscheduled items are not collected, no matter how neatly they are stacked.
The fall leaf pile. Wait for the town-wide sweep and track it at carync.gov/leaves, bag leaves for weekly yard waste collection within the weight limits, compost in place, or use the leaf disposal site on North Dixon Avenue. After the town-wide season, by-request collection applies — free in the early-spring window, with a fee for later requests.
Mistakes to Avoid
- Rolling out a recycling cart on a non-recycling week. Recycling is every other week. The cart will not be emptied, and it will sit there until the next cycle.
- Setting carts out the night before the night before. The window opens at dusk the night before collection, not earlier.
- Missing the 7 a.m. deadline. Carts that are not at the curb by 7 a.m. on collection day can be skipped, and the truck will not circle back.
- Leaving empty carts at the curb past 6 a.m. the next day. Code Sec. 26-44 provides for a roll-in fee starting with the second occurrence within 12 months.
- Bagging recycling. Items go loose in the cart. Bags defeat the sorting process.
- Putting yard waste in plastic bags, or mixing in soil, rocks, or trash. None of it will be collected.
- Exceeding the yard waste limits. 32 gallons and 25 pounds per reusable container, 25 pounds per paper bag, 4 feet by 24 inches for bundles, pieces under 4 inches, and 240 cubic feet per household per collection day.
- Setting bulky items at the curb without an appointment. Unscheduled bulky and special waste is not a pickup.
- Assuming a Cary mailing address means town service. Confirm town-limits status before you rely on any rule on this page.
- Treating the sanitation fee as settled. The FY2027 budget says $28 per month effective July 1, 2026; the Utility Rates page has listed $26. Check your bill.
- Planning around the Citizen's Convenience Center after December 2026. Public access ends at 6 p.m. on December 30, 2026.
- Using an old printed schedule. Cary no longer publishes printed annual schedules; use Cary Collects.
Frequently Asked Questions
What day is trash pickup in Cary NC? It depends on your address. Cary assigns curbside routes by area, so search your address in Cary Collects at carync.gov/collects or in the Cary Collects app to see your garbage, yard waste, and recycling day. You can also call 311, or (919) 469-4000 from outside town limits.
How often does Cary collect trash and recycling? Household garbage is collected weekly at the curb, yard waste is collected weekly on that same day, and recycling is collected every other week on that same day. Check your recycling week for your address in Cary Collects.
What time do Cary carts need to be at the curb? Place carts at the curb no earlier than dusk the night before collection day and no later than 7 a.m. on collection day, with the lid arrows pointing toward the street. Remove emptied carts before 6 a.m. the next day.
How do I get rid of a couch or other bulky item in Cary? Bulky pickup is by appointment only. Schedule it at services.townofcary.org or by calling 311. The fee is $15 for the first item and $8 for each additional item collected during the same trip.
What is the Cary sanitation fee? Cary's FY2027 adopted budget sets a solid waste and recycling fee of $28 per month effective July 1, 2026, up from $26 in FY2026, but the town's Utility Rates page has still shown $26 per month. Confirm the current amount on the Utility Rates page or your utility bill before budgeting. An additional 65-gallon or 95-gallon solid waste cart is $4 per month.
How is yard waste collected in Cary? Yard waste is collected weekly on your regular garbage day. Use reusable containers with handles (max 32 gallons, 25 lb), paper bags (25 lb max), or securely tied bundles no longer than 4 ft and 24 in in diameter with pieces under 4 in. The limit is 240 cubic feet per home per collection day. Plastic bags, and yard waste mixed with soil, rocks, or trash, are not collected.
Does Cary pick up loose leaves and Christmas trees? Loose leaves are handled through a seasonal town-wide program with scheduled sweeps and a live map at carync.gov/leaves, followed by free by-request collection in early spring and a fee for later requests; you can also bag leaves for regular yard waste pickup. Christmas trees are collected as normal yard waste, with preparation guidance in the Waste Wizard.
Is the Citizen's Convenience Center in Cary closing? Yes. Public access to the Citizen's Convenience Center at 313 N. Dixon Ave. ends permanently at 6 p.m. on December 30, 2026, and it is closed from January 1, 2027, because most of the operation sits in a railroad right-of-way needed for rail improvements. Curbside collection is not affected, and residents are then directed to county disposal options.
Who do I call about Cary garbage collection? Call 311 inside Cary or (919) 469-4000 from outside town limits to reach a Public Works Citizen Advocate, weekdays 7 a.m. to 7 p.m., or submit a request at services.townofcary.org. After business hours, only water and sewer emergencies are accepted.
Common Cary Trash Search Terms, Answered Quickly
Town of Cary garbage collection. Town-run service through Public Works: weekly garbage, weekly yard waste on the same day, every-other-week recycling on that same day.
Cary recycling week schedule. Recycling runs every other week on your normal collection day. Your week is tied to your address — look it up in Cary Collects.
Cary Collects app. The Cary Collects app for Apple and Google devices shows your day and recycling week and supports reminders and notifications.
Cary NC bulk trash pickup. By appointment only, at $15 for the first item and $8 for each additional item on the same trip. Schedule at services.townofcary.org or by calling 311.
Cary yard waste rules. Weekly on your garbage day; containers or paper bags up to 25 pounds, bundles up to 4 feet by 24 inches with pieces under 4 inches, and a 240 cubic-foot cap per household per collection day.
Cary NC sanitation fee. The FY2027 adopted budget sets $28 per month effective July 1, 2026; the Utility Rates page has listed $26. Confirm on the rates page or your bill.
Cary loose leaf collection. Seasonal town-wide sweeps tracked at carync.gov/leaves, then by-request collection with a free early-spring window and a fee for later requests.
Cary convenience center on Dixon Ave. The Citizen's Convenience Center at 313 N. Dixon Ave. closes permanently to the public at 6 p.m. on December 30, 2026.
Cary trash holiday schedule 2026. No collection on observed Town holidays; the adjusted dates for your address are posted in Cary Collects rather than on a fixed table.
Cary pickup day lookup. Cary Collects at carync.gov/collects, the Cary Collects app, or 311 — the three official paths, in that order.
Cary NC appliance pickup. Curbside by request for a fee (ask 311), $10 per appliance at the Citizen's Convenience Center while it is open, or free at the Wake County Multi-Material Facility.
Cary NC trash pickup phone number. 311 inside Cary; (919) 469-4000 from outside town limits.
Cary Christmas tree pickup. Handled as normal yard waste; search "Christmas Tree" in the Waste Wizard for preparation guidance.
Sources
- Town of Cary — Garbage, Recycling & Yard Waste
- Town of Cary — Garbage Collection
- Town of Cary — Curbside Collection
- Town of Cary — Yard Waste
- Town of Cary — Loose Leaf Collection
- Town of Cary — Recycling
- Town of Cary — Curbside Recycling
- Town of Cary — Citizen's Convenience Center
- Town of Cary — Cary Collects (schedule lookup and app)
- Town of Cary — Town Policy 83: Solid Waste Collection
- Town of Cary — Code of Ordinances, Chapter 26: Solid Waste Management
- Town of Cary — Utility Rates and Fees
- Town of Cary — Budget (FY2027 adopted)
- Town of Cary — Town Holidays
- Town of Cary — Public Works
- Town of Cary — Public Works FAQ
- Town of Cary — News: Cary's Annual Loose-Leaf Collection Begins November 3
- Town of Cary — BUD Newsletter, March 2026 (Good Friday collection closure)
- Town of Cary — News: corporate limits in Wake and Chatham counties
- Town of Cary Open Data — Solid Waste and Recycling Collection Routes
- Wake County — Solid Waste Management
- Chatham County — Solid Waste & Recycling: Collection Centers
Verify Before You Act
Pickup day, holiday shifts, fees, and eligibility are all address-specific or change on a budget cycle, and this page is a starting point rather than the official record. Confirm four things before you act:
- Your collection day and recycling week. Open carync.gov/collects, enter your street address, read the day and the week, and save or print the result. Turn on app reminders so you stop having to remember.
- Whether a holiday shift or weather delay applies to the coming week. Check the same lookup before any holiday week or after a storm.
- The current sanitation fee. The FY2027 adopted budget sets $28 per month effective July 1, 2026, while the town's Utility Rates page has listed $26 per month. Check the Utility Rates page or your own utility bill.
- Bulky, appliance, chipper, or excess collection steps and fees by phone at 311 before setting anything out. Several of those fees are not published as amounts, and unscheduled items are not collected.
And confirm the most important thing of all: that your address is inside the Cary corporate limits and served by town curbside collection. If it is not — a Cary mailing address outside the limits, a Chatham County portion, or an HOA community with its own contract — the rules on this page may not apply to you at all, and 311 is the fastest way to find out which set of rules does.
For the wider set of services a new Cary household needs to set up, see the related guides on Cary utilities, Cary building permits, and Cary property tax.
Last checked: September 9, 2026. Schedule details, fee figures, and facility status reflect Town of Cary and county sources reviewed on that date. Fees, holiday shifts, and the Citizen's Convenience Center closure date can change and should be re-confirmed with the town before you rely on them.