Ames, IA Trash & Recycling: Collection Schedule (2026)

Sec. 10.18 sets the collection cadence that every city-licensed hauler in Ames has to follow. For single-family homes and multi-family buildings with up to four units, the routine schedule is capped at once weekly; the code lets a licensed hauler arrange a special one-off collection when a disaster, calamity, construction project or demolition generates an unusually large or unusual load that cannot wait for the regular route. For higher-volume generators, hotels, restaurants, clubs, boarding houses and multi-family properties with more than four units, Sec. 10.18(2) sets a floor of at least once a week and requires more frequent service whenever accumulation prevents a receptacle lid from closing tightly, causes overflow onto the ground, attracts animals or birds, or produces noisome odors, tying the schedule to a sanitation outcome rather than a fixed number of stops.

Sec. 10.19 backs this with equipment rules for the trucks that run the routes: collection vehicles must be sanitary, leak-proof, fully enclosed or covered, loaded so nothing spills, and, for regular routes, packer-type trucks that the city inspects annually. Because Ames contracts its residential collection out to city-licensed haulers rather than running a municipal fleet, the schedule in Sec. 10.18 is enforced through that license: a hauler that consistently misses the required frequency is answerable through the complaint process in Sec. 10.20 and, for a pattern of failures, license revocation under Sec. 10.17.