Worcester County, MA Trash & Recycling: Pickup Rules & Schedules (2026)

Worcester County does not operate trash collection — each of the 60 municipalities does because county government was abolished in 1998. The City of Worcester operates a municipal Pay-As-You-Throw (PAYT) yellow bag program under which residents purchase official yellow trash bags (currently about $2 for 30-gallon and $1 for 15-gallon) and weekly curbside collection is operated by the Department of Public Works & Parks. Recycling is single-stream, collected weekly in alternating-week pattern with yard waste in fall/spring. Bags and bins must be at the curb by 7:00 AM on the scheduled day. Holiday weeks shift pickup one day later. Fitchburg, Leominster, Gardner, and Milford operate similar municipal programs, some using PAYT stickers rather than bags. Many smaller Worcester County towns (Princeton, Sterling, Rutland, Paxton, Holden, Boylston, West Boylston) contract with private haulers (Republic Services, Casella, Waste Management) or use regional transfer stations; residents purchase annual transfer-station stickers. MassDEP Waste Ban regulations (310 CMR 19.017) prohibit disposal of cardboard, metal, glass, certain plastics, leaves, textiles (since 2022), mattresses (since 2022), and other materials in the trash statewide. The Wheelabrator Millbury waste-to-energy facility processes much of Worcester County's trash.