Denver’s waste collection schedule will look a lot different this week, and customers also will have their recycling pickup dates changed for the rest of the year.
City waste customers are being asked to set out their trash bins by 6 a.m. Monday, and not on their normal day. But the bins may not be picked up on Monday. Instead, city crews will work through Wednesday to pick up the bins.
However, people with collection dates later in the week have another option:
- If your collection date is Wednesday, you can set out your cart on Tuesday by 6 a.m.
- For a Thursday collection date, the deadline is Wednesday at 6 a.m.
Setting out the bins early will ensure your waste gets collected even as crews work on an unusual three-day schedule.
There is no waste collection on the Thanksgiving holiday, and all city staff are on furlough on Black Friday.
Anyone with large-item pickup scheduled for this week should also put the items out on the schedule detailed above.
Recycling schedules will flip next week.
Compost and recycling won’t be collected at all this week. Composting will return to its regular weekly schedule next week. Recycling will resume next week, but with some changes, since it is a biweekly service.
Customers who would normally set out their recycling on Thanksgiving week will instead put it out next week, the week of Dec. 1. Their recycling will then be collected every other week.
Customers who normally would have recycling collected on the week of Dec. 1 will instead wait until the following week, the week of Dec. 8. And they will then put their recycling out every other week.
Basically, everyone’s normal recycling collection dates will be delayed by a week for the rest of the year and into 2026. Schedule information is available online.
The Cherry Creek Recycling Center is closed Nov. 27 to Dec. 1.
How does the city manage these kinds of adjustments?
Thanksgiving is one of six weeks where holidays result in collection changes in Denver. Thanksgiving is an unusual one this year because of the furlough.
Usually, collection is simply delayed by a day. But that has always made this reporter wonder: Isn’t that the same amount of work? Why does delaying collection help?
Nancy Kuhn, a spokesperson for the city, told us the city has designed its entire collection operation to allow for these kinds of adjustments.
“In January 2022, we adjusted solid waste collection schedules and routes to be more efficient and make collection services more reliable and consistent. We moved collections to a four-day, Monday through Thursday schedule (working ten-hour shifts), so that Fridays could be used for any catchup work and holiday pickups,” she wrote.
Previously, the city would have crews working Saturdays to make up for skipped holiday collections. But now that Fridays are available for this kind of cleanup work, weekend work isn’t necessary.
The reduction in weekend work means better staff morale, Kuhn wrote. Normally, crews also make about eight hours of overtime on a holiday week. But that won't happen this week because of the furlough. Instead, waste collection crews and other city employees will only be paid for 32 hours.
