Oak Park, IL Trash & Recycling: Pickup Rules & Schedules (2026)

Village Code section 20-7-2(A) sets the storage rules behind every Oak Park garbage pickup. Every owner, operator, occupant or responsible party at a residential building of five units or fewer must store garbage, other than compostable kitchen waste in a compost pile, and refuse in a mobile cart as defined in section 20-7-1, the Village-issued 96-gallon or 64-gallon wheeled, hinged-top cart, or in a standard waterproof metal or plastic container with handles and a tight-fitting cover holding no more than forty gallons. A filled mobile cart over fifty pounds will not be collected, and garbage or refuse in any other type of container is refused outright.

Leaking or defective containers must be repaired or replaced. Garbage has to be drained of moisture and wrapped in paper or plastic before it goes in the container; a container the garbage has frozen to, or one that also holds yard waste, dog waste or similar offensive matter, will not be collected. Bulky items like appliances, large toys, furniture, and securely tied bundles of newspapers, magazines, empty cartons and crates need no container at all and can simply be stacked next to the approved containers, along with brush, branches and discarded Christmas trees. Discarded refrigerators and similar equipment cannot sit on the property, even temporarily, without first having their doors removed.