Hamilton, NJ Trash & Recycling: Holiday Pickup Schedule (2026)

Hamilton Township residents receive curbside garbage collection twice a week, except on holidays, according to the township's Garbage & Recycling page. The Code of the Township of Hamilton fixes which days count as holidays. Section 420-22.B says the following, plus others as may be established, are holidays on which collections will not be made: New Year's Day, Memorial Day, Independence Day, Labor Day, Thanksgiving Day and Christmas Day. Veterans Day and the day after Thanksgiving are not on that list.

The code leaves the calendar itself to the Department of Public Works. Section 420-22.A says collection sectors, together with the dates of collection, are established by regulation of the Department of Public Works. The make-up rule in that subsection covers emergencies and inclement weather such as ice and snowstorms, high winds and heavy rains: collection for the service that was suspended resumes on the next regularly scheduled collection day. That sentence is about storms, not holidays.

The township's 2026 Garbage Holidays table, printed with the columns Holiday, Date and Rescheduled Date, gives the make-up days. Thanksgiving Day, November 26, 2026, is rescheduled to November 28, 2026. Christmas Day, December 25, 2026, is rescheduled to December 26, 2026. Memorial Day, May 25, 2026, and Labor Day, September 7, 2026, both show "Next Scheduled Day" as the rescheduled date. The only New Year's Day row on the page is January 1, 2026, rescheduled to January 3, 2026. The page prints nothing for New Year's Day on January 1, 2027, so check the township page before that holiday.

The table also leaves out Independence Day, even though the code lists it, and the page does not say why. It says nothing about Veterans Day, Christmas Eve, New Year's Eve or the day after Thanksgiving.

The schedule changed this year. Effective January 1, 2026, Wednesday and Saturday garbage collection days were merged into Monday/Thursday or Tuesday/Friday collection days, and the township points residents to a new garbage collection schedule PDF. The township notes that the Recycle Coach portal and app were still being updated with the correct garbage collection dates, so the township page is the reference to trust. Trash goes curbside beginning at dusk the night before the scheduled collection day, or by 6 AM the day of collection.

The table covers garbage only. Curbside recycling is provided once every two weeks and is coordinated by the Mercer County Improvement Authority (MCIA), reachable at (609) 278-8086. The page prints no recycling holiday dates as text, and it prints nothing on yard waste or leaf collection around holidays.