Hempstead, NY Trash & Recycling: Pickup Rules & Schedules (2026)

Town Code § 128-7A(2) requires residential refuse to sit in a commercially manufactured container no larger than 45 gallons with a tight-fitting cover and a maximum filled weight of 75 pounds, though garden refuse and rubbish may go in wooden boxes, baskets, or pails with handles instead. will actually collect: the equivalent of two 30-gallon containers of garbage each scheduled day, plus on the second and third collection days only, another two 30-gallon containers of rubbish and up to six tied bundles of twigs or branches (no larger than two feet by two feet by four feet) or six 55-gallon plastic bags.

No rubbish is collected the first scheduled day after a legal holiday because of the doubled garbage volume. Section 128-6B separately bans plastic bags over 30 gallons for garbage or over 55 gallons for leaves, and requires bags to be securely tied, not overfilled, and not torn. Section 128-7C(1) then flatly forbids using barrels, drums, kegs, cardboard boxes, or cloth bags to hold garbage or rubbish for collection at all, regardless of size. Ash containers must be metal, water-quenched, and weigh no more than 70 pounds filled.

Commercial properties get a different formula: two 30-gallon containers for the first 5,000 square feet of building, plus one more per additional 10,000 square feet.