Upper Darby, PA Trash & Recycling: Pickup Rules & Schedules (2026)

Section 461-17 of the Refuse Collection and Recycling article spells out precollection practices that apply before the Township truck ever arrives. Rubbish must go in a metal or plastic container, and the container plus its contents cannot weigh more than 40 pounds; a resident who fills bags or bins beyond that limit is putting out refuse the crew is not required to take. The section also caps total volume: no more than 200 pounds of refuse may come from any one dwelling unit in a single week, so a household generating unusual volume needs the bulk-trash arrangement described in Section 461-18A(2) rather than stacking extra bags at the curb.

Ashes may not share a container with rubbish, and separate metal or plastic containers are required for each; ashes specifically may never go out in paper bags or cardboard cartons, since wet ash left in paper can fail and spill on the sidewalk. All garbage, meaning food waste from preparing and cooking meals, must be drained of liquid, sealed in plastic, and kept in a covered, watertight container along with other refuse. Hazardous materials, defined by Section 461-15 to include oil, paint, flammable liquids, asphalt, explosives, solvents and pathological waste, are flatly not acceptable for collection and may not be placed in any refuse container at all; a resident with hazardous waste has to arrange separate disposal outside the Township's curbside program.