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Rubbish

Procedures have been established to provide rubbish collection service to our residents. Please adhere to the following guidelines so that we may provide an efficient and safe service.

Automated Rubbish Collection

The City of Independence switched to automated refuse collection to save taxpayer dollars. These trucks require less labor and fuel than the previous system.

Please place the cart/toter no more than three (3) feet from the curb and away from other objects, such as mailboxes, trees, fire hydrants, parked cars, etc. The arrows on the lid of the cart must be pointed towards the street and the lid must be closed on the rubbish cart. Do not overfill the rubbish cart with rubbish sticking out over the rubbish cart. Additional rubbish carts can be purchased through the Service Department. The automated truck cannot collect refuse containers blocked by parked cars or under trees with low-hanging branches.

Extra trash should be placed next to your rubbish cart. Furniture, mattresses, box springs, TV's, doors, toilets, toys, bagged trash, cardboard and other items should be placed next to the rubbish cart on your trash pick up day and does not need to be called into the Service Department.

Appliances, metal items, paints, chemicals, light bulbs, batteries and computers must be called into the Service Department for a Special Pick Up at 216-524-9191 prior to Friday of each week.

All building material must be contained and placed next to your trash on your pick up day.
If there is a large amount of building material a dumpster rental is required. All ashes, sawdust, or other dust-type material must be contained in a bag or box.

The rubbish cart/toter are City of Independence property and should not be defaced. The serial numbers on the front of the rubbish cart/toter are registered to specific addresses and the rubbishcart/toter must be left at the residence when moving out of the home. For new dwellings, please contact the Service Department for a rubbish cart/toter to be delivered to your residence.

For more details on the rubbish collection system, please:

Download the Automated Rubbish Collection Brochure
Watch our videos on Youtube regarding Lakewood's Trash Automation and Akron's Trash Collection Automation
Contact the Independence Service Department at (216) 524-9191.

To purchase an additional rubbish cart/toter cart you can download the bill of sale below and mail or drop off the bill of sale with a CHECK OR MONEY ORDER to 6350 Selig Drive or you can call the City of Independence Service Department at 216-524-9191 and order you rubbish cart/toter cart with a credit card.
The additional rubbish cart will be dropped off at your residence.

All rubbish, recycling, and yard waste should be curbside by 7:30 am the day of pickup, but not sooner than 6:00 pm the evening before pickup. All Trash, recycling and yardwaste placed at the curb prior to 6:00 pm the day before the scheduled pickup date is considered litter and subject to fine (Ordinance #1999-33). There is no specific time for pickup on any street.

HOLIDAY RUBBISH PICK UP SCHEDULE:
When your rubbish day falls on a holiday, your rubbish will be picked up the following day. For example, if a holiday occurs on a Thursday, all of Thursday's rubbish will be picked up on Friday. If your rubbish day falls on a Friday holiday, your rubbish will be picked up on Monday. There is no rubbish, recycling, or yardwaste pick up on Saturday. All other pickup days remain the same for the Holiday trash pick up week.

Holidays the Service Department is CLOSED:
January: New Years Day and Martin Luther King Day
February: President's Day
May: Memorial Day
July: July 4th
September: Labor Day
November: Thanksgiving Day
December: Christmas Day

Special Pickup

Special Pickup occurs every Friday. Please call the Service Department at (216) 524-9191 by Thursday to schedule a special pickup of the qualifying items listed below. If you call in the evening, please leave your address and a description of the item for special pickup on the answering machine. Items must be curbside by 7:30 am the day of pickup.

Special Pickup items include:

Hot water tanks
Appliances (refrigerator doors must be removed)
Metal Items
Fluorescent tubes and compact fluorescent light bulbs (CFLs)
Paints, oil, chemicals, aerosol cans and other misc chemicals in closed containers
Computers, monitors, towers, and misc. computer equipment

Yard Waste

Yard waste is picked up on your regular rubbish day between the months of April to December. Yard waste is processed and made into compost. Do not mix yard waste with any rubbish type material. Please place yard waste away from or on the opposite side of rubbish containers. For more information see our Compost and Yard Waste page.