Yonkers, NY Trash & Recycling: Pickup Rules & Schedules (2026)

Yonkers City Code § 91-16 requires every owner, tenant or occupant of a residential building to keep enough receptacles on hand to hold all garbage, waste and ashes between collections; where plastic bags are used, they must be sealed tightly enough that nothing spills. Section 91-17 sets the physical limits on those receptacles: garbage must be securely wrapped, containers kept tightly covered at all times, and no receptacle may be filled higher than three inches from the top or hold more than two cubic feet or 50 pounds, unless the Commissioner of Public Works authorizes an exception.

Every receptacle must otherwise be kept in a condition the Department of Public Works finds satisfactory. Section 91-18 controls curb timing: on regularly scheduled daytime routes, receptacles or trash bags cannot go to the curb before sundown the evening before collection, and on nighttime routes not before 12:00 noon the day of collection. After the Department of Public Works empties them, the owner, tenant or occupant must pull the receptacles back off the curb within eight hours. Section 91-19 limits what the City will actually pick up: only receptacles made of metal, plastic or other suitable material, including heavy-duty trash bags the Commissioner has approved, qualify for residential collection, and canisters that exceed the size and weight limits in § 91-17 need the Commissioner's separate approval. The City does not collect from businesses, industrial or manufacturing establishments under this section; those generators must arrange private removal under § 91-20.