Wilmington NC Trash Pickup Schedule 2026

Last checked: September 9, 2026

Wilmington works differently from most North Carolina cities on household waste: the city runs curbside collection itself through its own Solid Waste Services department, and every service — household trash, yard waste, recycling, and scheduled bulky pickups — lands on one address-based day. There is no published list of collection days by street, and no legitimate guide can name your day without your address. What follows covers the eligibility check, the official lookup, the prep and set-out rules that decide whether a cart is emptied, the monthly fee structure, the 2026 holiday shifts, and the materials that go to New Hanover County instead of the curb.

Verify your address before you act. City curbside service applies only to addresses inside Wilmington city limits that sit on public streets. Apartment complexes, private-street neighborhoods, and unincorporated New Hanover County addresses generally do not receive city curbside collection at all. Run the eligibility check and the day lookup below first, and treat every schedule, fee, and rule here as something to confirm with the city, not assume.

Short Answer — Wilmington Trash Pickup at a Glance

• Collector: City of Wilmington Solid Waste Services, part of the Public Services Department — a city department, not a private contractor.
• Frequency: household trash is collected weekly, yard waste weekly, and recycling every other week (bi-weekly) — all on the same assigned collection day for your address.
• Find your day: use the city pickup lookup at wilmingtonnc.gov/pickup and enter your street address, use the city's ArcGIS address search tool, or call Solid Waste Services at 910.341.7875.
• Set-out deadline: everything at the public right-of-way by 6 a.m. on your collection day, and nothing out earlier than noon the day before. Pull containers back out of the right-of-way by the end of the collection day.
• Billing: one monthly volume-based Solid Waste Services fee billed through the Cape Fear Public Utility Authority (CFPUA). The city publishes $25.29 per month for the 35-gallon trash cart and $31.12 per month for the 95-gallon trash cart, with the recycling cart included at no charge.
• Extra bagged trash: needs an orange "extra trash" sticker. Bags beside the cart without a sticker are not collected.
• Bulky items: no additional charge, but appointment-only — call 910.341.7875 or use the city's online form by 4:30 p.m. on the business day before your trash day.
• Who is served: addresses inside Wilmington city limits on public streets. Homes on private streets need a petition to the city, and most apartment and multi-family complexes contract a private hauler.

The one thing to take away: your collection day and your green-or-blue recycling week are assigned by address, and the city publishes no citywide day list. Third-party sites that name a Tuesday, Thursday, or Friday route for a Wilmington street are not confirmed by any official city page, so treat the address lookup or the phone line as the only official answer.

Quick Facts

Item	Detail
Service provider	City of Wilmington Solid Waste Services (Public Services Department)
Billing / account signup	Cape Fear Public Utility Authority (CFPUA), 910.332.6550, option 4
Household trash	Weekly, on your assigned day
Yard waste	Weekly, same day as trash, no additional charge
Recycling	Every other week (bi-weekly), same day as trash; green week or blue week
Carts	City-issued 95-gallon or 35-gallon trash cart (customer choice); 95-gallon recycling cart at no charge
Published monthly rates	35-gallon trash service $25.29/month; 95-gallon trash service $31.12/month
Set-out window	After noon the day before pickup; at the curb by 6 a.m. on pickup day; containers removed by end of the collection day
Extra trash	Orange "extra trash" sticker required; minimum purchase of 12; stickers do not expire
Yard waste limit	Up to 7 cubic yards per collection in one pile; limbs 4 ft or shorter and 6 in or less in diameter
Bulky item booking deadline	4:30 p.m. on the business day before your trash day
Collection suspensions	New Year's Day, Fourth of July, Thanksgiving Day, Christmas Day
County	New Hanover County
County landfill	5210 Highway 421 North, Wilmington, NC 28401 — 910.798.4450
County hazardous waste / electronics	3002 Hwy 421 North, Wilmington 28401 — 910.798.4400

Who Collects Trash in Wilmington: The Local Basics

City of Wilmington Solid Waste Services is the single collector for curbside household trash, recycling, yard waste, and bulky items within the city. The department handles residential and commercial city trash customers inside the city limits, and service includes a trash cart, a recycling cart, yard waste collection, and bulky collection.

The billing layer is separate. Solid Waste Services is funded by monthly fees charged by the Cape Fear Public Utility Authority to Solid Waste Services customers, based on the chosen level of service. In practice that means you start service, change cart sizes, and sort out billing issues through CFPUA or the Solid Waste Services office — not through a hauler.

Contacts and offices

• Solid Waste Services: 910.341.7875
• CFPUA billing, signup, and customer service: 910.332.6550, option 4 — main office at 235 Government Center Drive, Wilmington, NC 28403, or the alternate office at 929 North Front Street
• City mailing address: 929 N. Front St., Wilmington, NC 28401
• Solid Waste Services office: 235 Operations Center Drive, Wilmington, NC 28412
• Downtown Central Business District bag voucher replacement: 910.341.0227
• Private-street service petition: 910.341.7893
• New Hanover County household hazardous waste: 910.798.4400
• New Hanover County Landfill: 910.798.4450

The division of labor with the county is the part people mix up. The city collects curbside waste. New Hanover County runs the landfill and the household hazardous waste facility, and county facilities are for New Hanover County residents — out-of-county and business material is refused. County facilities also cannot accept hazardous chemicals from businesses because of permit restrictions, and residents should bring ID.

One more distinction that saves phone calls: the Solid Waste Services administrative office closes on all city-recognized holidays — New Year's Day, Martin Luther King Jr. Day, Good Friday, Memorial Day, Juneteenth, Independence Day, Labor Day, Veterans' Day, Thanksgiving Day, and Christmas Day. Those office closures do not by themselves suspend curbside collection. Only four holidays actually stop crews, and they are listed further down.

How to Find Your Collection Day and Recycling Week

There is no way around this one: your collection day is address-specific. Wilmington publishes no day-by-street list, so no guide — including this one — can hand you a weekday from a table. The official lookups below are the only reliable answers, and they take less than a minute.

Use these official routes, in this order:

1. The city pickup lookup at wilmingtonnc.gov/pickup. Enter your street address and read the collection day and recycling week it returns. Save or print the result.
2. The city's ArcGIS address search tool, the map-based alternative the city FAQ points to: https://wilmingtonnc.maps.arcgis.com/apps/Viewer/index.html?appid=1afd247e0081425687e9eafbe8538730 — note this URL pattern is published by the city; if it does not open for you, use the pickup page or phone line instead of guessing.
3. Call Solid Waste Services at 910.341.7875. A person can confirm your day, your recycling week, and whether your address is even eligible for city service.

Run the lookup again during any holiday week, because that is when a printed or remembered schedule is most likely to be wrong.

The recycling week system. Each home is on a green week or a blue week, and the interactive recycling schedule map shows general collection areas with green or blue indicating which week your area's recycling is collected. The city's 2026 Recycling & Trash Calendar is the reference to use for this year's holiday changes. Recycling is a voluntary curbside program provided as part of trash collection at no additional charge for city trash customers, and it runs every other week on the same day as trash.

The city publishes no citywide list of collection days by street, and the recycling map does not publish street-level green/blue assignments either. That is why the lookup, not this article, is the answer.

Step-by-Step: Prep, Set Out, and Close Out Your Pickup

Follow this the night before pickup.

1. Confirm eligibility first. Inside city limits and on a public street. If either is not true, the rest of this list does not apply to you — see the city-limits section below.
2. Bag everything inside the cart. Household trash must be bagged and placed in the city roll-out cart with the lid closed, and the cart must not be overfilled. Double-bag smelly waste such as diapers and cat litter to prevent leakage.
3. Respect the set-out window. Materials may go to the public right-of-way after noon the day before scheduled pickup and must be out no later than 6 a.m. on the collection day. The time of day your items are collected may change, which is exactly why the city sets a 6 a.m. deadline rather than a route time.
4. Keep piles separate. Bulky items, metal bulky items, electronic items, and yard waste are serviced by three different trucks and must sit in neat separate piles on the right-of-way. Yard waste needs its own single pile in a consistent location next to the carts.
5. Handle anything that will not fit in the cart. Extra trash is not automatically collected. Bag it and attach an orange "extra trash" sticker. Stickers are sold by calling 910.341.7875 or in person at 929 N. Front St. and at the Solid Waste Services office at 235 Operations Center Drive; the minimum purchase is 12, stickers do not expire, and they are charged to the utility account. Bagged trash beside the cart without a sticker will not be picked up, and that single rule explains a large share of "missed" pickups.
6. Prep recycling correctly. Rinse items; lids and caps are fine; flatten cardboard. Never put plastic bags or plastic film, styrofoam, cords or rope, household trash, or food waste in the blue cart. Extra recycling that will not fit can go in a personal container or a cardboard box, and it does not need an extra trash sticker.
7. Prep yard waste to the numbers. One pile only, adjacent to the carts, up to 7 cubic yards per collection — roughly 5 ft wide, 11 ft long, and 3.5 ft high, about the size of eight large carts. Limbs must be no more than 4 ft long and 6 in in diameter. All loose material — grass clippings, pine straw, vines, pinecones, leaves — must be containerized in a paper yard debris bag, a box, or a personal 35-gallon container not exceeding 50 lbs.
8. Pull containers back in. All containers must be removed from the city right-of-way by the end of the collection day.

What counts as recycling in the blue cart: aluminum, steel, and tin cans; newspapers, magazines, office paper, junk mail, catalogs, and phone books; plastic bottles #1–7; labeled drink boxes; empty aerosol cans; glass bottles and jars; flattened cardboard and chipboard; rigid plastic such as buckets and laundry baskets; and household metals such as pots and pans without plastic handles or glass tops. What does not: plastic bags and plastic film, styrofoam, cords and rope, household trash, and food waste. Plastic bags and film are recyclable at participating grocers and local drop-off locations, and UNCW's recycling depot at 5195 Lionfish Drive accepts foam plastic and plastic film and bags for free public drop-off. Residents who are not city trash customers can use recycling drop-off centers throughout the county — call 910.798.4400.

Yard waste rejects: crews cannot take palm tree trunks, root balls or stumps, dirt, bricks, rocks, or concrete; piles in wheelbarrows, trailers, or tarps; piles inside the city-provided trash or recycling cart; oversized piles; or piles in more than one location. Yard waste must never sit in the street, and it cannot block water meters or storm drains or obstruct a driver's view. Yard waste created by commercial contractors, tree services, or other contracted work is not collected by city crews.

Bulky Items, Appliances, Electronics, and Household Hazardous Waste

Nothing large or hazardous is collected automatically at the curb in Wilmington.

Bulky items. Oversized wood, plastic, metal, furniture, and electronics that will not fit in a trash cart are bulky items. They are collected at no additional charge, but pickup is by appointment only. Call Solid Waste Services at 910.341.7875 or submit the city's online form at https://us.openforms.com/Form/b9c8c1e5-58f1-44ff-84c3-d7ad3f1b90dd no later than 4:30 p.m. on the business day before your trash day; after that cutoff, items roll to the following week. List every item when you schedule it, because there is no published limit on how many bulky items one appointment can cover. Bend or remove nails from lumber for crew safety, and expect anything too large or heavy for the crews to be refused.

What is not bulky: trash overflowing a full cart. That is extra bagged trash and it needs an orange sticker.

Electronics. North Carolina law banned TVs and computers from landfills as of July 2011, and computer equipment manufacturers must offer a no-cost recycling program to NC households. City crews collect TVs and computer monitors by appointment at 910.341.7875, and residents can also drop electronics free of charge at the New Hanover County household hazardous waste facility at 3002 Hwy 421 North (Monday–Friday 10 a.m.–2 p.m., Saturday 8 a.m.–noon; 910.798.4400), which is free to county residents six days a week. For households with 10 or more large electronic devices, call ahead to arrange the drop-off.

Hazardous materials. Tires, paints, oils, chemicals, and similar items go to the county, not the curb. The county's mobile HazWagon service runs 10 a.m. to 2 p.m. on Monday at Ogden Park near the ball fields, Wednesday at the Wrightsville Beach Municipal Complex, Friday at Carolina Beach on the north side of Mike Chappell Park on Clarendon Avenue, and the first Saturday of the month at Kure Beach Town Hall, excluding major holidays. HazWagon limits are no more than 10 gallons of liquid waste and no more than two TVs at a time, and it is for New Hanover County residents — bring ID, because out-of-county material cannot be accepted. The mobile stops and facility hours can change; call 910.798.4400 to confirm the schedule before you load the car.

Demolition and contracted work. Demolition materials from contracted work should not be set out for city collection — removal is the contractor's responsibility. Call the New Hanover County Landfill at 910.798.4450 for disposal options. For reusable items, the city lists donation alternatives including Habitat for Humanity ReStore at 1203 S. 3rd St. or 7330 Market St. (910.686.9800) and the Two-Wheeler Dealer bicycle donation at 4408 Wrightsville Avenue (910.799.6444).

2026 Holiday Collection Changes

Crews do not collect on the Fourth of July, Thanksgiving Day, Christmas Day, or New Year's Day. Holiday pickup schedules are announced before the date, and a reminder tag is left on the roll-out cart with the revised day.

The documented 2026 shifts are the part that trips people up, because all three move collection earlier in the week, not later:

Holiday closure	Revised 2026 collection
Closed Thursday, January 1, 2026 (New Year's Day)	Collection moved to Wednesday, December 31, 2025
Closed Thursday, November 26, 2026 (Thanksgiving Day)	Collection moved to Wednesday, November 25
Closed Friday, December 25, 2026 (Christmas Day)	Collection moved to Wednesday, December 23

Do not apply the usual "service runs one day late" assumption to Wilmington. That generic rule is wrong here.

Keep the two holiday lists separate in your head. The administrative office is closed for more holidays than collection is suspended for: office closures on Martin Luther King Jr. Day, Good Friday, Memorial Day, Juneteenth, Independence Day, Labor Day, and Veterans' Day do not change the collection schedule.

One open question the 2026 calendar does not answer: July 4, 2026 falls on a Saturday, and the calendar states no weekend-observance rule. Confirm that week's schedule with the city announcement or at 910.341.7875 rather than assuming.

What You Pay: The Monthly Volume-Based Fee

Households on public streets inside the city pay a monthly Solid Waste Services fee on the utility bill sent through CFPUA. The fee is volume-based and covers residential trash, recycling, yard waste, and bulky collection.

The city publishes two service levels:

• 35-gallon trash service — $25.29 per month.
• 95-gallon trash service — $31.12 per month.

The 95-gallon recycling cart is provided at no charge and collected bi-weekly, and curbside recycling is included in the city trash rate for city trash customers.

That makes cart size the pay-as-you-throw lever: moving from the 95-gallon trash cart to the 35-gallon cart saves $5.83 per month, or more than $60 a year, for households that can fit their weekly trash in the smaller cart.

Three cautions on the numbers, because guessing here costs real money:

1. The published rates carry no effective date in the city's listing, so confirm the current amount against the city fee schedule or your own CFPUA utility bill before budgeting.
2. Multiple additional recycling carts are available for a fee set on the city fee schedule, but the current dollar amount is not published on the city's service pages. Call 910.341.7875 to confirm it.
3. Commercial Central Business District service rates are not published at all — the city says to call.

Older city material still circulating online shows a 2014-era rate line and a 7:00 a.m. set-out time. Ignore it. The current published figures are the ones above, and the current set-out deadline is 6 a.m.

City Limits, Public Streets, and Downtown: Who Actually Gets Served

This section is the leading source of "why is my trash not picked up" confusion in Wilmington, so read it before you roll a cart out.

City curbside service applies only to addresses inside Wilmington city limits that are on public streets. Three common situations fall outside it:

• Private streets and private neighborhoods. Service is not automatically provided. The HOA or neighbors must petition the City; call 910.341.7893 for the petition. If the petition is approved, all homes on the street must go on service.
• Apartments and multi-family complexes. The city does not operate dumpster service, so most complexes contract a private hauler. Contact your property manager, not the city.
• Unincorporated New Hanover County. A Wilmington mailing address does not mean city-limits status. Addresses outside the city do not receive city curbside collection; those households rely on private haulers plus county facilities, chiefly the New Hanover County Landfill at 5210 Highway 421 North (Monday–Friday 6:30 a.m.–5 p.m., Saturday 6:30 a.m.–noon; 910.798.4450). The landfill accepts tires, appliances, yard waste, mixed recyclables, construction and demolition debris, batteries, used motor oil, cooking oil, antifreeze, oyster shells, and sharps; fees are per-ton with a $5.00 minimum, and the county's published fee table is labeled effective July 1, 2026 — confirm the current table before you drive out or pay. Out-of-county waste carries a $500.00 flat fee plus the per-ton rate, and loads are screened.

Also note the other municipalities in the county. Carolina Beach, Kure Beach, and Wrightsville Beach each run their own collection arrangements, and Wilmington's rules must not be applied to them.

Downtown is its own program. The Central Business District — west from the Cape Fear River to 3rd Street and north from Red Cross Street to Ann Street — uses the city's bag-based "Bag It" program instead of carts. Residential units receive 10 green residential bags per month through a voucher card picked up at 929 N. Front St. (lost voucher cards: 910.341.0227), plus curbside recycling in blue city bins once per week. Green bags are limited to 40 lbs; sharp items, broken glass, or needles must be sealed in a container before bagging, and liquids are not allowed. Bags or refuse must not be at the street except during collection times — the published collection windows are 2:30–3 p.m. and 5:30–6 p.m. daily and 2–4 a.m. daily, and fines are possible for putting refuse out outside the scheduled time. Commercial establishments in the CBD can elect city collection from twice a week up to twice a day, seven days a week, using blue bags imprinted with the City of Wilmington logo purchased in quantities of 20 or cases of 100; those commercial rates are not published, so call for them. Bulky item and yard waste collection in the CBD is available on request at no additional charge, but appointments must be approved before you place anything out — call 910.341.7875.

Missed Pickups, Broken Carts, and What the City Will Not Take

If a container was at the curb by 6 a.m. on the assigned day and was not serviced, follow this order:

1. Check the cart for a violation tag explaining why it was not collected. Common causes are an overfilled cart, an unstickered extra bag, mixed piles, or yard waste in the wrong container or location.
2. If there is no tag, call 910.341.7875 to report the missed collection.
3. Broken or stolen cart: call the same number for repair or replacement, and leave the cart visible from the street.

What crews will not collect: liquids or sharp items dangerous to crews; dirt, rocks, concrete, or commercial demolition materials; hot ashes; wet paint liquids (paint cans must be dried out completely or taken to the county hazardous waste facility); hazardous materials, chemicals, or pesticides; medical waste; flammables; tires; and items too large or heavy for the collection trucks.

Where those items go instead: up to five tires per day free of charge for homeowners at the New Hanover County Landfill (businesses pay per ton); paint, chemicals, oil, antifreeze, and electronics at the county household hazardous waste facility at 3002 Hwy 421 North. Prescription drugs go to one of the county's two year-round locked drop-off locations: the County Jail at 3950 Juvenile Center Road in Castle Hayne, or the Historic Courthouse at 24 N. 3rd Street in Wilmington.

Violations of the city's Recycling & Trash Services Codes are subject to a $50 per day civil fine, so it is worth reading the tag rather than re-putting the same materials out unchanged.

Resident Scenarios: Five Situations That Decide Your Answers

Scenario 1 — You just rented a house near downtown and the carts were already there. The carts do not confirm eligibility; a previous tenant's service might have been on a street that is now private, or the account may have been tied to the property differently. Look up the address at wilmingtonnc.gov/pickup, and if the address does not return a day, call 910.341.7875 and ask directly whether your street is a public street on city service.

Scenario 2 — Your trash day falls on Thanksgiving. Do not put the carts out one day late. In 2026 the Thanksgiving collection moved earlier, to Wednesday, November 25. Watch for the reminder tag on the roll-out cart and confirm via the city's announcement rather than a guess.

Scenario 3 — You are in an apartment complex and the dumpster is overflowing. This is a property-management issue, not a city one. Wilmington does not operate dumpster service, and most apartment and multi-family complexes contract a private hauler. Call your property manager; the city line will route you back to them.

Scenario 4 — You have a mattress, a dead television, and six bags of yard debris. These are three different pickups. The mattress and television are bulky items requiring an appointment by 4:30 p.m. the business day before your trash day, and the TV may also go free to the county facility at 3002 Hwy 421 North. The yard debris goes out as one neatly piled pile next to the carts with limbs cut to 4 ft or less — not in bags in the blue cart, and not in the street. Keep all three separate on the right-of-way, because different trucks service them.

Scenario 5 — Your address has a Wilmington mailing address but sits outside the city. You use a private hauler and county facilities. The landfill at 5210 Highway 421 North takes mixed household waste, yard waste, appliances, and more for per-ton fees with a $5.00 minimum, and the hazardous waste facility at 3002 Hwy 421 North takes the materials the curb will never take.

Mistakes to Avoid

• Assuming a day without looking it up. Collection days and recycling weeks are assigned by address, and no official street list exists.
• Believing a third-party schedule site. Sites naming Tuesday, Thursday, or Friday routes for Wilmington streets are not confirmed by any official city page, and some mix up Wilmington, NC with other cities of the same name.
• Applying a "one day late" holiday rule. Wilmington's 2026 shifts move collection earlier in the week.
• Putting bags beside the cart without an orange sticker. They will not be picked up, and it looks like a missed collection when it is not.
• Leaving the cart out for days. Containers must be out of the city right-of-way by the end of the collection day.
• Putting plastic bags, film, or styrofoam in the blue cart. Use grocery drop-offs or UNCW's depot at 5195 Lionfish Drive instead.
• Setting out an oversized or split yard waste pile. One pile, up to 7 cubic yards, loose material containerized, in a consistent location beside the carts.
• Piling bulky items without an appointment. Call by 4:30 p.m. the business day before, or the items wait a week.
• Putting hazardous waste, paint, or tires at the curb. The city will not collect them, and the county facility is the correct destination.
• Republishing or budgeting on old rate figures. The published $25.29 and $31.12 monthly rates carry no effective date; check the current city fee schedule or your CFPUA bill.

Verify Before You Act

Before you rely on anything here, confirm five things with the city:

1. Eligibility. Is your address inside Wilmington city limits and on a public street? If not, is a private-street petition (910.341.7893) or a private hauler the correct path?
2. Your day and recycling week. Open wilmingtonnc.gov/pickup, enter your street address, read the day and the green or blue week, and save or print the result — or call 910.341.7875.
3. Your current rate. The published $25.29 and $31.12 monthly figures carry no effective date in the city's listing, so confirm the amount on the city fee schedule or your CFPUA utility bill.
4. Whether a holiday shift applies to the coming week. Use the 2026 Recycling Calendar and the city's announcement, not a one-day-delay assumption.
5. Bulky item steps and deadlines. Confirm the appointment process and the 4:30 p.m. cutoff at 910.341.7875 before placing anything at the curb.

This guide reflects city and county information confirmed on September 9, 2026. Fees, holiday dates, and set-out rules can change, and county facility hours and mobile collection stops change more often than the city's core rules. Reconfirm with the city or county before you rely on a figure or drive out to a facility.

For the rest of a new Wilmington address, see the related guides on Wilmington utilities, Wilmington property tax, and Wilmington building permits.

Frequently Asked Questions

What day is trash picked up in Wilmington NC?

It depends on your address. Trash, yard waste, and recycling are all collected on the same assigned weekday, which the city sets by area. Look up your day at wilmingtonnc.gov/pickup with the city's address tool, or call Solid Waste Services at 910.341.7875. The city publishes no citywide day-by-street list, so any third-party site naming a day for your street is unconfirmed.

How do I find my Wilmington trash pickup day and recycling week?

Use the city's pickup lookup at wilmingtonnc.gov/pickup or the city's ArcGIS address search tool, or call Solid Waste Services at 910.341.7875. Each home is on a green week or a blue week for recycling, and the interactive recycling schedule map shows which week applies to your area.

How much does Wilmington trash collection cost?

It is a monthly volume-based fee on your CFPUA utility bill that covers trash, recycling, yard waste, and bulky collection. The city publishes $25.29 per month for the 35-gallon trash cart and $31.12 per month for the 95-gallon cart, with the recycling cart included at no charge. The published figures carry no effective date, so confirm the current amount on the city fee schedule or your CFPUA bill.

How often is recycling collected in Wilmington, and what can go in the blue cart?

Every other week (bi-weekly) on the same day as your trash. Each neighborhood is on a green week or a blue week — check the interactive recycling schedule map or the 2026 Recycling Calendar. Accepted items include cans, paper, cardboard, plastic bottles #1–7, glass bottles and jars, and rigid plastic. Plastic bags and plastic film are not allowed in the blue cart; take them to participating grocers or the UNCW drop-off at 5195 Lionfish Drive.

Is yard waste picked up weekly in Wilmington?

Yes, once a week on the same day as trash, up to 7 cubic yards per collection in a single pile. Limbs must be no more than 4 feet long and 6 inches in diameter, and all loose material such as leaves, grass clippings, and pine straw must be containerized in a paper yard debris bag, a box, or a personal 35-gallon container not exceeding 50 lbs.

How do I schedule a bulky item or TV pickup in Wilmington?

Call Solid Waste Services at 910.341.7875 or use the city's online form no later than 4:30 p.m. on the business day before your trash day; after that cutoff, items go to the following week. Bulky pickup is free as part of your monthly service but it is appointment-only, and TVs and computer monitors can also be dropped free of charge at the New Hanover County facility at 3002 Hwy 421 North.

Does Wilmington collect trash on holidays in 2026?

Crews do not collect on the Fourth of July, Thanksgiving Day, Christmas Day, or New Year's Day. In 2026 the documented shifts move collection earlier in the week: New Year's Day collection moved to Wednesday, December 31, 2025, Thanksgiving collection to Wednesday, November 25, and Christmas collection to Wednesday, December 23. A reminder tag is left on carts with the revised schedule, so do not assume service simply runs one day late.

Why don't I get city trash service even though I live in Wilmington?

City curbside service is only provided to addresses inside Wilmington city limits on public streets. Homes on private streets need an HOA or neighbor petition to the city (call 910.341.7893), and because the city does not run dumpster service, most apartment complexes contract a private hauler. Addresses in unincorporated New Hanover County use private haulers and county facilities such as the landfill at 5210 Highway 421 North. For billing, signup, and cart-size changes, call the Cape Fear Public Utility Authority at 910.332.6550, option 4; for service issues, call Solid Waste Services at 910.341.7875.

Wilmington Trash Questions, Answered Quickly

Who runs trash pickup in Wilmington? City of Wilmington Solid Waste Services, part of the Public Services Department — city crews, not a private contractor. Billing and account signup run through the Cape Fear Public Utility Authority.

What is the Solid Waste Services phone number? 910.341.7875 for service questions, missed collections, bulky appointments, stickers, carts, and private-street petitions. For billing, signup, or cart-size changes, call CFPUA at 910.332.6550, option 4.

How do I look up my collection day? Enter your street address at wilmingtonnc.gov/pickup, use the city's ArcGIS address search tool, or call 910.341.7875. Save or print what the lookup returns.

What cart sizes are available? A 95-gallon or 35-gallon trash cart, your choice, plus a 95-gallon recycling cart at no charge. The published monthly rates are $25.29 for the 35-gallon cart and $31.12 for the 95-gallon cart.

Where do I get extra trash stickers? Call 910.341.7875 or buy them in person at 929 N. Front St. or the Solid Waste Services office at 235 Operations Center Drive. The minimum purchase is 12, the stickers do not expire, and the charge goes on your utility account.

What time does the cart go out? No earlier than noon the day before your collection day, and no later than 6 a.m. on collection day. Pull containers back out of the right-of-way by the end of the collection day.

How often is recycling collected? Every other week on your regular trash day, on either a green week or a blue week depending on your area.

How much yard waste can I set out at once? Up to 7 cubic yards in a single pile per collection, with limbs 4 feet or shorter and no more than 6 inches in diameter.

How do I get rid of a TV in Wilmington? Call 910.341.7875 to schedule a bulky appointment by 4:30 p.m. the business day before your trash day, or drop it free of charge at the New Hanover County household hazardous waste facility at 3002 Hwy 421 North.

What if my cart is broken or stolen? Call 910.341.7875 for repair or replacement, and leave the cart visible from the street.

Is downtown on the same collection system? No. The Central Business District — west from the Cape Fear River to 3rd Street, north from Red Cross Street to Ann Street — uses the city's bag-based "Bag It" program instead of carts, with its own collection windows and its own rules.

What happens if my street is private? Service is not automatic. The HOA or neighbors petition the city at 910.341.7893, and if the petition is approved, every home on the street goes on service.

Sources

City and county sources for this guide, checked September 9, 2026:

• City of Wilmington — Solid Waste Services (department hub, published rates, service levels): https://www.wilmingtonnc.gov/Services/Solid-Waste-Services
• City of Wilmington — Trash (residential service, set-out rules, extra trash stickers, holiday closures): https://www.wilmingtonnc.gov/Services/Solid-Waste-Services/Trash
• City of Wilmington — Trash Routes (combined service day, 6 a.m. deadline, appointment rule): https://www.wilmingtonnc.gov/Services/Solid-Waste-Services/Trash/Trash-Routes
• City of Wilmington — Recycling (bi-weekly schedule, green/blue weeks, accepted materials): https://www.wilmingtonnc.gov/Services/Solid-Waste-Services/Recycling
• City of Wilmington — Recycling & Trash Frequently Asked Questions (eligibility, petitions, multi-family, missed collections): https://www.wilmingtonnc.gov/Services/Solid-Waste-Services/Frequently-Asked-Questions
• City of Wilmington — Electronics (TV and computer collection, NC landfill ban): https://www.wilmingtonnc.gov/Services/Solid-Waste-Services/Frequently-Asked-Questions/Electronics
• City of Wilmington — Bulky Item Collection (appointment process, separate piles, donation alternatives): https://www.wilmingtonnc.gov/Services/Solid-Waste-Services/Bulky-Item-Collection
• City of Wilmington — Yard Waste Collection (7-cubic-yard limit, limb sizes, containerization): https://www.wilmingtonnc.gov/Services/Solid-Waste-Services/Yard-Waste-Collection
• City of Wilmington — 2026 Recycling & Trash Calendar (PDF; 2026 holiday shifts): https://www.wilmingtonnc.gov/files/assets/city/v/2/services/documents/trash/2026_recycling_calendar.pdf
• City of Wilmington — Yard Waste guide (PDF): https://www.wilmingtonnc.gov/files/assets/city/v/1/services/documents/trash/yard-waste-guide-doc-490-r.pdf
• City of Wilmington — Central Business District (Bag It) services: https://www.wilmingtonnc.gov/Services/Recycling-and-Trash-Services/Central-Business-District-Services
• City of Wilmington — bulky item online scheduling form: https://us.openforms.com/Form/b9c8c1e5-58f1-44ff-84c3-d7ad3f1b90dd
• City of Wilmington — address search tool (ArcGIS): https://wilmingtonnc.maps.arcgis.com/apps/Viewer/index.html?appid=1afd247e0081425687e9eafbe8538730
• City of Wilmington — Recycling & Trash Services Information Guide (PDF; address lookup, curb deadline, cart and recycling prep): https://www.wilmingtonnc.gov/files/assets/city/v/2/services/documents/trash/rts-info-guide-english.pdf
• City of Wilmington — Recycling & Trash Services Trash (items crews will not collect, tire and prescription drop-off routes, $50 per day civil fine): https://www.wilmingtonnc.gov/Services/Recycling-and-Trash-Services/Trash
• New Hanover County — Household Hazardous Waste (facility hours, HazWagon stops and limits): https://recycling.nhcgov.com/360/Household-Hazardous-Waste
• New Hanover County — Landfill (hours, accepted materials): https://www.nhcgov.com/364/Landfill
• New Hanover County — Landfill Fees (per-ton table, tire handling): https://www.nhcgov.com/330/Fees

This guide is a reader-oriented summary of official city and county sources. It is not an official City of Wilmington publication. Confirm your collection day, recycling week, current rate, and any holiday shift with the city before you act on them.