Billings, MT Trash & Recycling: Pickup Rules & Schedules (2026)

Section 21-211 of the Billings city code controls how solid waste is prepared and presented for collection. Subsection (g) sets the timing: carts go out the night before collection and on the collection day only. They can sit within the sidewalk, street right-of-way, or alley, but they cannot obstruct it. Carts must be removed from the street right-of-way by the end of the designated collection day and stored off the right-of-way the rest of the time. If a cart left out is damaged, the city can charge the customer for it.

Subsection (d) requires customers to keep the area around carts and containers clean and to maintain a minimum clearance of four feet around each one. Public works will not pick up a cart that lacks that clearance. Subsection (f) bans overfilling: the lid on every residential solid waste and yard waste cart has to close completely. A cart that is overfilled, or that holds waste required to be bagged but not securely bagged, is left uncollected, and service resumes on the next regularly scheduled service day once the cart is properly prepared.

Subsection (e) requires anything that wind can scatter during collection to be securely bagged and tied before it goes into a residential cart or commercial container. The code names food waste, paper products, cardboard, packaging and wrappers. Heavy or bulky items that will not blow around are not required to be bagged. Subsection (a) allows only cold ashes, contained in a bag or other approved container, and carts holding hot coals or hot ashes are not collected. Subsection (c) requires combustible waste to be wrapped or packed so wind cannot scatter it.

Contractor work is treated separately. Under subsection (b), construction and demolition debris, tree trimmings and yard waste generated by someone working for compensation must be removed by the person responsible for the work, in a manner approved by the public works department. Subsection (h) lets public works immediately remove waste spilled onto a public street or other public property during collection, and the customer can be billed the reasonable cleanup and disposal costs when the spill came from a failure to follow the article.

The current article was enacted by Ordinance No. 26-5935, adopted August 24, 2026, which repealed and replaced the former Article 21-200 that dated from Ordinance No. 23-5849 of August 14, 2023.