Phoenix, AZ Trash & Recycling: Bulk Item Disposal (2026)

If you are looking for a Phoenix bulk trash pickup schedule, there is not one any more. The City's Public Works page is headed "Bulk Trash is Now Collected by Appointment Only" and tells residents to "Make an appointment before setting out your bulk item." Appointments are booked through the widget on that page or by calling 602-262-6251. The old recurring neighbourhood rotation is what most searches are still looking for, and it is gone.

Phoenix City Code § 27-22 is still the governing provision and still reads as though a rotation exists: § 27-22(A) makes it "unlawful to place bulk trash out for collection more than seven days prior to the scheduled collection date", and § 27-22(C) requires it out "no later than 6:00 a.m. on the scheduled collection date". What changed is who sets that date. Section 27-22(E) gives the Director power to "designate alternative placement and collection points", and § 27-19(B) puts collection days in the Director's hands, so the appointment programme is the schedule now.

The practical trap is that the appointment programme is TIGHTER than the Code on two numbers, and a resident reading only the Code will get both wrong. On volume, § 27-22(G) says bulk trash "may not exceed a total uncompacted volume of 20 cubic yards per collection", but the appointment guidelines ask for "a single pile no larger than ten (10) cubic yards per residence". On timing, the Code says 6:00 a.m. and the guidelines say "Have your items placed by 5:30 a.m. on your scheduled appointment date", half an hour earlier. Set out twenty cubic yards at six in the morning and you have followed the ordinance and missed the collection.

The seven-day rule survives in a useful form: the city's own flyer tells residents they may "Set out bulk trash up to 7 days before appointment", which matches § 27-22(A).

Holiday blocking is the part worth knowing in autumn. The page states that "The bulk trash scheduler blocks out the following holidays, including the 7 days after each holiday: Halloween, Thanksgiving, Christmas, and New Year's Day", so that no bulk trash sits at the kerb through the peak weeks. In practice that removes a large part of late October through early January from the booking calendar, which is exactly when people clear out a garage.

Placement rules are consistent across both documents and worth following to the letter. The pile goes curbside on your own property, parallel to the street, within five feet of the kerb or the front edge of the property, and at least five feet clear of any fixed object, which § 27-22(F) also requires. The Code adds that bulk trash "must be in neat stacks" (§ 27-22(D)) and may not go on the sidewalk, in the street, or behind a fence or barrier (§ 27-22(E)). Tree trimmings must be cut to less than 12 inches in diameter and four feet in length, and grass, leaves, weeds, twigs and hedge clippings must be securely bagged and tied.

Two rules catch people out. Community piles are refused: "please DO NOT combine piles from multiple households. Each household must schedule an appointment for its individual pile." And the programme will not take more than two wooden pallets, or anything in Bagster bags.

The Code's exclusion list (§ 27-22(I)) still governs what cannot go out at all: anything containing refrigerants, unbagged leaves, weeds and grass, more than 25 pounds of construction and demolition waste from a resident or any amount from a contractor, cement, cement blocks, brick, asphalt, stones and dirt, and lead acid batteries or any hazardous, infectious or medical waste. The city's guidelines add tires of any size and glass such as windows, shower doors, patio doors and mirrors.