How does trash pickup work in Florida?

Under Florida law, cities are responsible for collecting trash inside their limits and hauling it to a disposal site the county runs or contracts for. A city may run its own collection or grant a franchise to a hauling company. Counties run the disposal sites and may charge reasonable fees for handling and disposing of trash there. Every county must run a recycling program that recovers a significant portion of at least four of these: newspaper, aluminum cans, steel cans, glass, plastic bottles, cardboard, office paper and yard trash. Cities and counties may require homes to separate recyclables.

In unincorporated Palm Beach County, the Solid Waste Authority of Palm Beach County gives each collection area to one hauling company. Garbage is picked up twice a week, and recycling, yard waste and bulk items once a week, between 6 a.m. and 5 p.m., Monday through Saturday. All garbage must go inside the 96-gallon cart each home is given. City, town and village residents there contact their own municipality. The Solid Waste Authority, which also runs the county's landfill and transfer stations, answers questions at (561) 697-2700.

The charge does not always come as a separate bill. In Palm Beach County, Solid Waste Authority fees are a non-ad valorem assessment, figured by the type of property producing the waste rather than its value, and added to the yearly property tax bill. The Palm Beach County Tax Collector, which collects property taxes there, is at (561) 355-2264.

To find your pickup days and what goes in which bin, call your city hall, or your county's solid waste office if you live outside city limits.

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