Rochester, NY Trash & Recycling: Collection Schedule (2026)

Refuse Code § 20-11 makes the Department responsible for collecting dead animals and all residential refuse originating in the City, and it may also collect commercial refuse. The Department will not collect industrial waste, infectious waste, hazardous waste or electronic recyclable materials, which must be arranged separately. Residential refuse, bulk refuse and recyclables are collected once each week; all other collections happen at whatever frequency the Commissioner of Environmental Services determines is necessary for public health, with user fees scaled to that frequency. Commercial users who don't generate industrial waste can choose exclusive City service or a licensed private commercial refuse and/or recyclable collector, but if they aren't on exclusive City service they must prove to the Commissioner's satisfaction that a licensed collector is servicing them at a Commissioner-approved frequency; failing to arrange or document adequate service is itself a violation.

Users who rely on private collection, or who lose City service, must keep enough commercial or alternate containers on hand to hold refuse between scheduled pickups and can't let it accumulate, since any substantial accumulation is declared a sanitary health hazard and public nuisance the Commissioner can abate at the owner's cost. Commercial users who do generate industrial waste must use a licensed private collector exclusively unless they show the Commissioner that exclusive private service is impracticable and they won't offer industrial waste for City pickup.

Residential fees run $411 a year for a one-unit dwelling, $827 for two units and $917 for three units under § 20-24, billed on the tax bill; unpaid residential fees become a lien on the property from July 1 under § 20-20.