Bethlehem, PA Trash & Recycling: Collection Schedule (2026)

Article 1162, Solid Waste Collection and Enforcement (adopted by Ordinance 2016-14, June 7, 2016), assigns the Director of Community and Economic Development authority to regulate collection citywide. Section 1162.09 sets the actual schedule: residential collection runs six days a week, Monday through Saturday, between 5:00 a.m. and 4:00 p.m. on the south side of the City and between 6:00 a.m. and 4:00 p.m. on the north side, a split tied to the Lehigh River dividing Bethlehem's Lehigh and Northampton County sections. Commercial, municipal, industrial and institutional establishments may receive collection up to seven days a week between 6:00 a.m. and 4:00 p.m., except that any Sunday pickup is confined to 8:00 a.m. to noon.

Service is not optional: Section 1162.05(a) states that owners 'shall be responsible for preventing accumulation of solid waste on their premises' and that 'all owners shall provide for solid waste collection services by a hauler,' a duty that cannot be delegated to a tenant or lessee. If the City has probable cause an owner lacks service, 1162.05(c) gives the owner 72 hours to produce written confirmation a hauler has been retained. Haulers who miss a scheduled pickup must arrange alternate removal immediately to prevent a public-health nuisance, and any hauler who fails to return an emptied container to the pickup point is subject to the Article's penalties under 1162.06 and 1162.09(c).