Fort Collins, CO Trash & Recycling: Collection Schedule (2026)
Key Facts
- Program administrator
- City's contracted waste collector
- Administrative fee
- Up to $1.35 per month
- Opt-out minimum charge
- $9.75/month plus fee (2024-25 rate)
- Rate escalation
- 3% annual increase
- Excluded automatically
- Commercial customers, 8+ unit buildings, dumpster-served units
- Violation classification
- Civil infraction under § 12-33
Summary
Fort Collins enrolls every eligible residential unit in its own residential waste collection program under Section 12-28, using a single City-contracted hauler, unless a home is excluded or holds an approved variance. A homeowner who skips the City's hauler without a variance still owes the $1.35 monthly administrative fee plus the minimum service rate, currently $9.75 a month.
There is established the City's residential waste collection program to provide residential waste collection services for all program customers, except for those residences excluded pursuant to § 12-29 and those residences for which a variance has been granted in accordance with § 12-30...If a program customer who has not received a variance under §12-30 elects to not use the services provided by the City's contracted waste collector, the program customer shall pay the City's contracted waste collector the administrative fee established under Subsection (b) of this Section and the rate for the minimum level of solid waste service, which is nine dollars and seventy-five cents ($9.75) per month for the period from September 30, 2024, to September 29, 2025, and which shall increase by three percent (3%) annually and as otherwise provided for by the City's waste collection contract.
Official source re-checked September 7, 2026: no newer edition of the code had been published (publisher’s edition: Municipal Code: Supplement 155 | Transitional Land Use Code (for project before May 17, 2024): Supplement 61 | Traffic Code: Supplement 27).
Full Breakdown
Section 12-28 establishes the City's residential waste collection program, which the City runs through a single contracted waste collector rather than letting each household pick its own hauler. Coverage is close to universal by design: Section 12-29 excludes commercial customers and multi-unit buildings of eight or more units (though those buildings can opt in), and it excludes any residential unit already served by a dumpster on-site or on a shared common area, but everyone else falls inside the program automatically. Program customers who need an exception can apply for one of five variances under Section 12-30: a shared-service variance for households splitting one container, an excess-producer variance for households that generate more than the largest cart size, a remote-dumpster variance, a 90-day habitability variance for an uninhabitable unit, or a five-year multi-housing variance for an owner of several units in one structure.
Section 12-31 preserves the right to self-haul or contract independently as long as disposal follows City rules. 35 a month to cover running the program, on top of the collector's own rate card. 75 a month for the period running September 30, 2024 through September 29, 2025, rising 3 percent annually after that. The contracted hauler cannot add any charge to a program customer beyond what the City's contract with that hauler authorizes.
Violations & Fines
Violating Sections 12-28 through 12-32, whether by dodging the program's fees or ignoring its terms, is a civil infraction under Section 12-33, subject to the penalty in Subsection 1-15(f) of the Municipal Code. Repeated multi-housing variance violations carry their own consequence: the Director will revoke a multi-housing variance if the contracted collector cites the covered units three times in 12 months for overfilling a container.
Frequently Asked Questions
Do I have to use the City's trash hauler in Fort Collins?
Which homes are excluded from the mandatory program?
How much does the City add on top of my trash bill?
Sources & Official References
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Collection Schedule in Nearby Cities
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