Pontiac, MI Trash & Recycling: Collection Schedule (2026)

Section 94-27(a) makes City-run refuse collection available to all residential houses and apartments of four units or less that generate residential refuse, but excludes mobile home parks from the service entirely. The City may run the program directly or through a contracted waste hauler, and the Code preserves whatever existing contract the City has with its current contractor. Participation is not compulsory: a resident may decline the City's service, but only by applying to opt out every year and supplying three things, a copy of a prepaid service contract with another licensed provider for that address, a receipt showing the City contractor's cart was returned in good condition, and evidence that the substitute container meets the specifications § 94-26 sets for City-approved carts.

Any opt-out approval lapses annually and must be renewed on the same terms. Section 94-27(c) then limits City collection itself to garbage and refuse generated within Pontiac's corporate limits and at the property being serviced, barring residents from moving waste between addresses or letting nonresidents or ineligible Pontiac properties use the pickup, with violators subject to sanction under the article. Read together, §§ 94-27(a) and (c) establish both who is served by default and the paperwork needed to leave that default service, while day-to-day scheduling of the pickup itself is left to the Director of Public Works under § 94-27(b).