Grays Harbor County, WA Trash & Recycling: Pickup Rules & Schedules (2026)

Grays Harbor County Code Section 8.32.030 sets the minimum levels of service that WUTC-certificated solid waste collection companies must provide to single-family households in the unincorporated area. Every hauler must offer every-other-week single-stream curbside collection of recyclables, excluding glass, to all single-family residences that subscribe to curbside service, and the collection services must be on the same day as garbage collection, unless the hauler shows the county that road width, density or other geographic limits require a different truck route or schedule. Each participating household receives one roughly ninety-six-gallon wheeled recycling cart under Section 8.32.030.B, and a household that signs up for garbage service but declines to set out its recycling cart at least once every two months is charged a two-dollar monthly surcharge.

At minimum, haulers must accept cardboard, tin and aluminum cans, mixed waste paper, newsprint and plastic bottles numbered 1 through 7 under Section 8.32.030.D, though nothing stops a hauler from collecting more. Section 8.32.040 adds that special services for bulky item pickup opportunities shall be available to all residents that subscribe to curbside collection service, for an additional fee. Customer service duties fall on the hauler under Section 8.32.060: new containers must be delivered within twenty-one days of a request, with collection service starting within thirty-five days, and each certificated hauler must run a customer telephone hotline and notify subscribers of collection schedules, frequency and costs.

Households with long or steep driveways, restricted access, or a resident with limited mobility can request an alternative pickup arrangement under Section 8.32.030.C rather than being denied service outright. The county itself does not run the trucks; WUTC regulates hauler rates and service under Chapter 81.77 RCW, and Section 8.32.110 lets the county step in and contract for collection only if a certificated hauler fails to implement these minimum service levels within one hundred twenty days of notice.