Fitchburg, WI Trash & Recycling: Collection Schedule (2026)

Under City Code § 41-21, the department of public works and the hauler establish the time of collection of refuse and recyclables for Fitchburg, Wisconsin, and the city clerk publishes the collection schedule whenever it changes, so residents should check the current published schedule rather than assume a fixed weekday. The same section fixes the set-out window: containers or watertight bags may not go to the curb sooner than 24 hours before the scheduled collection time, and nothing may sit at the curbline for more than 12 hours after collection.

That 24-hour-before, 12-hour-after window applies citywide in Fitchburg and is enforced by the director of public works. Section 41-23 layers on a preparation rule that works with the schedule: everything set out must go in approved city refuse or recycling carts or watertight bags, and no bag or container may exceed 32 gallons in capacity or 50 pounds in net weight, except containers the hauler itself supplies. Because Dane County shoreland and county zoning rules under Wis. Stat. 69 do not reach inside city limits, this schedule and window are purely a Fitchburg city ordinance, not a county rule, and they sit in Chapter 41, Article II, Refuse Collection, alongside the placement and preparation sections that govern the same pickup day.