Official website of the
City of Vancouver, Washington

Garbage & Recycling

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Vancouver is a clean and vital community. We care about our environment and strive to live more sustainably. That's why garbage collection is mandatory and a wide range of service and recycling options abound for all residents within the City of Vancouver. Whether you are a longtime resident or a newcomer to our city, we encourage you to learn more about reusing, reducing and recycling, and disposing of wastes properly. Take some time to check out the wide range of information in the links, below.  

Too Many Leaves? Vancouver residents can take advantage of a Free Leaf Disposal Program. See Talking Trash.

Vancouver Has Carts!

Residential Recycling Changes to Every-Other-Week Collections! 

Recycling carts now have been rolled out to residential customers in the City of Vancouver. If you have questions about the new cart-based recycling program, there's information waiting in the Recycling Cart Program category below. You can get an update on the program, read answers to Frequently Asked Questions Part I (Coming Recycling Carts & Changes) and Part II (Recycling With Your New Cart), watch a video about how materials get recycled, and more!

View the map

Choose the Adobe Flash version or the standard Adobe Acrobat version and click on one of the links below, then zoom into your neighborhood. Regardless of how frequently you have your garbage picked up, residential recycling collection will change to every other week under Vancouver's new cart system. Please follow the schedule shown in the brochure that comes with your new cart. Remember that yard debris collections, an optional service you can choose, will occur the opposite week of recycling collections. To make that possible, the collection schedule for yard debris service will change for some, though not for the majority of customers. When looking to see when carts arrived in your neighborhood, keep in mind that the following colors correspond to collection days on the maps above:

Yellow = Monday; Blue = Tuesday; Pink = Wednesday; Green = Thursday; Orange = Friday 

View Recycling Cart Delivery Map on this page. Move the red square to zoom in on your neighborhood.

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Recycling Cart Delivery Map

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Latest News and Events

Keep up with the latest happenings in Talking Trash, below. 

What's Happening

Talking Trash - Latest news and events

Keep grease out of drains, get a free Leaf Coupon, recycle block foam or read the 2008 Annual Report.

Inclement Weather Information

Winter weather can interfere with your pickup.

Bin Advice

Learn how to prepare recyclables for curbside collections

Scavenging: It's Against the Law!

Theft of recyclable materials is illegal and disruptive.

Just Arrived? Welcome!

Helpful information about garbage and recycling services in Vancouver

Holiday Information

Some holidays may affect schedules

Recycling Cart Program

Update on the Residential Recycling Cart Program

Put your new cart to use!

Frequently Asked Questions - Part I

What you should know about Vancouver's Recycling Cart Program

Frequently Asked Questions - Part II

Learn How Easy Recycling is with Carts!

See the Recycling Carts

Display locations and other sites

What a Trip! Follow the Travels of Your Recycling

Saving Little Pieces of Our Earth - Video

What Do I Do With It?

Household Hazardous Waste

Learn to safely dispose of dangerous or toxic materials.

What to Do With Your Old Computer

You can recycle your computer to reduce pollution and benefit the communty

Nursery Pot Drop-Off Sites

Support reuse or recycling of pots

Service Options and Rates

Rates in English

At-a-glance list of garbage service options and rates for single-family residences

Frequently Asked Questions

Garbage, Recycling and Yard Debris Rates

Paying Online

Convenient link to Waste Connections online

Servicios de desechos urbanos y reciclado

2008 Rates in Spanish for single-family residences

Варианты и расценки сбора мусора и утиля у частных лиц

2008 Rates In Russian for single-family residences

2009 Commercial Rate Summary

Frequently requested service options and rates

Commercial Recyclers

These recyclers comply with City of Vancouver registration requirements

More Solid Waste and Recycling Resources

ABCs of PBTs

What are Persistent Bioaccumulative Toxic substances? Why should we be concerned about them?

Can Weight Study

Summary analysis of garbage, recycling and yard debris set-out weights for spring, summer and fall seasons in 2000

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For Kids: Solid Waste and Recycling web page

From the Washington State Department of Ecology

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Garbage by the Pound Study

Final report from November 2002

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