New Britain, CT Trash & Recycling: Collection Schedule (2026)

Section 11-2(a) of the Code of Ordinances makes city-run collection mandatory: no person except the city collector or an authorized contractor may collect or haul refuse anywhere in New Britain, and section 11-2(b) requires that collector's trucks display insignia issued by the department of public works proving the hauler is authorized. Residential properties, defined in section 11-1 as parcels with up to six dwelling units, receive city-purchased trash and recycling containers under section 11-4 sized at sixty-four or ninety-six gallons, matched to the automated and semi-automated collection trucks the city runs.

Section 11-14(d) fixes the schedule: citywide refuse collection runs once per week, with recycling picked up every other week in the city's designated business districts rather than weekly. Commercial establishments and multi-dwelling properties not required to use special site-plan containers get up to three ninety-six-gallon containers, or two hundred eighty-eight gallons, collected once weekly at no charge under section 11-14(a); anything beyond that volume is the generator's own responsibility to remove. Oversized combustible and incombustible rubbish is excluded from the regular weekly pickup and instead requires a call-in appointment scheduled with the municipal hauler under section 11-3(c) and (f).

Trucks lacking the department's insignia, or operated by anyone other than the city collector or an authorized contractor, are barred from working anywhere in New Britain, keeping the department of public works' collection franchise exclusive across every residential and commercial route.