Waco, TX Trash & Recycling: Collection Schedule (2026)

Sec. 21-2 imposes an affirmative duty, not just an option: every property inside Waco city limits, whether residential, commercial, industrial or institutional, 'shall have solid waste collection services,' and owners, occupants or lessees must keep watch over the carts and containers assigned to the premises. If a service unit has no cart or container in place, or if the city's contracted collector fails to empty an existing cart for seven consecutive days, the code puts the burden on the resident to notify the city rather than let the lapse continue.

The mandatory-service duty is backed by the fee mechanism in Sec. 21-5, under which the city council sets a fee schedule each year (by resolution or in the annual budget) charging residential accounts by number of living units and commercial accounts based on property use; those charges are collected through the monthly utility bill under Sec. 21-6, and the bill is due on receipt, with water, sewer and solid waste service subject to suspension once it goes unpaid. The only escape from mandatory service is the narrow affidavit procedure in Sec.

21-7: an owner who swears the property is vacant and generates no solid waste can ask the director to remove the collection charge, subject to the director's investigation and, if denied, appeal first to the city manager and then to the city council for a final decision. Absent that sworn affidavit, every occupied Waco property is on the hook for city collection service and its associated charges, whether or not the resident actually uses the cart.