Chicopee, MA Trash & Recycling: Holiday Pickup Schedule (2026)

Chicopee's holiday rule sits in § 169-12(A)(2) and (3). Collection of garbage, ashes or rubbish runs on the regular day except in weeks where holidays prohibit collection, and then it happens on the next following day. The code spells out the cascade. If a holiday falls on a Monday, Zone 1 is picked up on Tuesday, and Zone 2 moves to Wednesday, Zone 3 to Thursday, Zone 4 to Friday and Zone 5 to Saturday. If a holiday falls on a collection day other than Monday, the zone for that day is picked up the next day, and each subsequent zone moves forward one day.

The code's own example is a Wednesday holiday: Zone 1 is picked up on Monday, Zone 2 on Tuesday, Zone 3 on Thursday, Zone 4 on Friday and Zone 5 on Saturday. As the example shows, zones ahead of the holiday keep their normal days. The provision does not list which holidays count.

Subsection (3) requires each holiday to be corrected for within the week in which it occurs. Under § 169-12(A)(1), a week starts in the a.m. on Sunday and ends on the following Saturday in the p.m., so Saturday is the last day available to catch up. Every week without a holiday has collection on the regularly assigned day, and every structure where housing accommodations exist is collected at least once a week during the year.

Two other tools change pickup days. The Mayor or a designee, who can be the Superintendent of Public Works, can exempt pickup in an emergency caused by weather or other unforeseen circumstance, and the exemption is announced through local media outlets (§ 169-12(A)(5)). The Superintendent can also petition the City Council for a specific exemption, which needs a positive vote of 2/3 and a published notice at least one week before the canceled pickup (§ 169-12(A)(4)). Container timing still follows the actual collection day: under § 169-10, containers can go out no earlier than 12 hours before that day and must be out by 7:00 a.m.