New Brunswick, NJ Trash & Recycling: Pickup Rules & Schedules (2026)

Section 8.40.030 of the New Brunswick Municipal Code governs how and when the city collects. Under subsection (B), the hours of collection run from six a.m. until three p.m. in all areas except the downtown area designated on a map on file in the city clerk's office. Under subsection (C), solid waste and recyclable materials are collected from containers placed adjacent to improved roadways in line with § 8.40.040. The city collects along public rights-of-way only, with one exception: collection is provided on private streets within housing developments built under the sponsorship of the city or its housing authority. Under subsection (A), each residential and nonresidential user has garbage collected twice weekly.

Subsection (D) sets up automated collection in the Container Collection District, a district defined in the city's zoning ordinance. The program took effect July 11, 2011 and uses city-issued brown trash carts and green recycling carts, each with a serial number tied to its address. The carts come in 95, 65 and 35 gallon sizes with maximum contents of 300, 200 and 100 pounds. The city supplies one free trash container and one free recycling container to each house of worship and store front business, one free set per building for combined business units and one free set per building for combined residential units. Additional containers must be purchased from the city. No other bags or containers are collected. Under (D)(5), carts go to the curb after five p.m. the night before or by six a.m. on collection day, collection runs six a.m. to eleven a.m., empty carts must be retrieved no later than twelve p.m., garbage is collected Monday to Saturday and recyclables weekly.

Bulk items are handled by appointment. In the district, participants must call no later than one p.m. the day before their trash collection, and no bulk items go in any cart. Elsewhere, § 8.40.040(F) allows bulk items on the second trash collection day of the week with an appointment, and caps a household at six combined bulk items and trash bags per dwelling unit and thirty per multifamily complex.