Montgomery, AL Trash & Recycling: Pickup Rules & Schedules (2026)

Sec. 25-33 establishes the city's garbage, rubbish, hauling and disposal service, operated by the sanitation department, and fixes how often it runs: residential garbage collection happens no less than twice each week, business-area garbage is picked up as necessary except on Sundays, and rubbish, leaves, grass, straw and shrubbery trimmings go out once a week in residential neighborhoods. The fees the city charges residents are expressly tied to that periodic schedule. Sec. 25-34 requires anyone whose commercial collection runs through a private alley or accessway to keep the approach clear and safe for department personnel and equipment, on pain of the city cutting off service until the hazard is fixed.

Sec. 25-36 splits commercial pickup into two tracks: small businesses and commercial units within normal container capacity can use city service, with the department picking the placement, days and hours, or they can hire a private contractor instead; businesses, apartment complexes and condominiums that go the contractor route have to place their containers in the rear of the property, with the department deciding exactly where. Together these sections describe two collection systems running side by side, the city's own twice-weekly residential route and a business/commercial track that can be either municipal or contracted, both of which the holiday and weather provision in the same Sec. 25-33 can shift on short notice.