Portland operates a Pay-As-You-Throw (PAYT) system: trash is only collected if placed in official purple City of Portland bags, and recycling is collected weekly on the same scheduled day as trash. Carts must be curbside by 6:30 a.m. on collection day and returned by 8:00 p.m.
Portland's Department of Public Works Solid Waste Division administers curbside collection, with WasteZero serving as the bag fulfillment partner and ecomaine handling end-disposal/recovery. Under the City's Pay-As-You-Throw program, household trash will be collected only when placed in official purple City of Portland trash bags (available in 15-gallon and 30-gallon sizes at local retailers); non-purple bags are left at the curb as a violation tag. Recycling is collected on the same day as trash on a weekly schedule that varies by neighborhood, looked up via the City's Trash and Recycling Collection Web App. Set-out window: bags and bins must be curbside by 6:30 a.m. on the collection day and pulled back from the curb by 8:00 p.m. that evening. Maine has no statewide pickup-rules statute that preempts this; under 30-A M.R.S. § 3001 (home rule) Portland adopts its own collection ordinance under the Code of Ordinances chapter governing sanitation, sewers, and solid waste.
Trash placed at the curb in non-purple bags is not collected and may be tagged as a violation; repeated improper set-out can be cited under the Portland Code of Ordinances as a civil violation. State littering law (17 M.R.S. § 2264-A) provides a backstop fine of $100-$500 for less than 15 lbs of improperly dumped material (including improperly set-out refuse on the public way) and $500 minimum for over 15 lbs.
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