Olympia, WA Trash & Recycling: Collection Schedule (2026)

In the City of Olympia, § 13.12.100 sets the collection floor: the solid waste section collects, removes and disposes of all garbage and refuse in the residential districts at least once a week. Residential districts include all portions of the city not otherwise designated. Hotels, restaurants, boardinghouses, eating places, apartment houses, schools, hospitals and the business districts, as designated from time to time by the solid waste section, are served at more frequent intervals as, in the opinion of the section, conditions warrant. The code prints no collection day, route map or holiday rule.

Service is compulsory. Section 13.12.010 states the intention of chapter 13.12 to make collection, removal and disposal of garbage and refuse universal and compulsory. Section 13.12.050 puts the duty on every person in possession, charge or control of any premises to have garbage and refuse removed and disposed of by the solid waste section, unless exempted by written agreement with the city through a written claim of exemption. A vacant dwelling place is exempt. A dwelling whose water service has been discontinued by the owner or occupant is deemed vacant, and when water service resumes it immediately becomes subject to the chapter again. Rubbish and debris from construction, remodeling or destruction of a building is collected and removed by the contractor, owner or other person performing the work.

Under § 13.12.070 the solid waste section holds the exclusive right to gather and collect garbage and refuse within the city, and the public works director is its administrative head under § 13.12.030. Bills follow the city water billing dates under § 13.12.160. Charges still unpaid twenty days after the date of the bill are delinquent and become a lien against the premises under § 13.12.170. Under § 13.12.180, service can be suspended for nonpayment, and suspension renders the premises subject to condemnation for sanitary reasons. The Title 4 fee schedule heads its residential garbage rates "monthly, every-other-week collection" and lists a twenty-gallon cart as the minimum residential garbage service, while § 13.12.100 remains the printed minimum for residential districts.