Worcester, MA Trash & Recycling: Recycling Requirements (2026)

Section 4 of Chapter Four sets the baseline for Worcester's recycling program: the commissioner 'shall collect, or cause to be collected, at least once every two weeks, recyclable items placed in recycling bins,' following regulations the commissioner issues from time to time. Section 2 defines 'recyclable' as any item on a list the commissioner maintains and amends, and the ordinance names newspapers, magazines, chip board, junk mail, glass bottles and jars, metal food and beverage cans, can lids, aluminum foil and trays, juice and milk cartons, drink boxes, and plastic bottles coded #1, #2 and #3 with bases wider than their necks as examples.

Anything the commissioner has not put on that list, or classified as a bulk item, defaults to 'solid waste' under the same section and goes out in a trash bag instead of a recycling bin. Because the twice-monthly minimum is a floor, not a fixed schedule, the actual pickup frequency and the current list of accepted materials both live in the commissioner's regulations issued under Section 7, not in the ordinance text itself, so a resident checking what belongs in the bin needs the city's current recyclables list rather than relying on the ordinance section alone.

Section 1 gives the commissioner of public works and parks full supervision, direction and control over both the recycling and solid waste collection programs citywide.