Residential Waste & Recycling Services

This page outlines the waste services the City offers for residential properties with 1-5 dwelling units. These services do not extend to properties that are mixed-use.

Recycle Coach

As part of an agreement with the Illinois Environmental Protection Agency (IEPA), the City of Evanston has partnered with Recycle Coach to offer more information on waste programming to its community members. Look up hundreds of materials and find which waste containers they are allowed in. Or, find information on drop-off locations or nearby collection events.

Learn how you can create service reminders for your website as well as your mobile apps.

Trash Service

The City offers trash carts in three different sizes. Cart size dimensions and costs per month are listed in the table below, and all pricing includes recycling in the monthly costs. Trash is serviced weekly on the assigned collection day. Additional carts can be added to an account for $11.93 per month, regardless of size.
Properties with multiple dwellings in their property are supplied a cart and billed for service at each dwelling.

*Note households with 95-gallon trash service can place out one 30-gallon bag of waste per week for collection.

Recycling Service

Recycling services are included in household trash service costs. Households are given a 95-gal cart by default unless asked otherwise. Households can also request additional recycling carts at no additional cost. Check out the Recycle Coach App or the What Goes Where? page to learn more about accepted items.

Food and Yard Waste Service

Accepted materials have expanded to include fruits and vegetables, meat and bones, eggshells, grains, coffee grounds and filters, paper towels, and similar materials.
Schedule: Weekly collection will occur from April through November, and during December through March, collection will occur every other week. Winter collections will alternate between “A” weeks, which include Monday and Tuesday routes, and “B” weeks, which include Wednesday and Thursday routes. Residents are encouraged to use the Recycle Coach app to receive service reminders reflecting the new schedule. 
Service Fees: Food and Yard Waste cart service fees will now appear on the water bill as a year-round charge of $7 per month, billed in increments of $14 per cycle. Households that opt out of the service will not incur any charges. The cost of service remains the same whether your household uses a 35-gallon or a 95-gallon cart.

Yard Waste Stickers: Beginning in 2026, LRS will replace the City as the distributor of yard waste stickers, which will be available at local retailers and community centers. Previously issued City stickers will be accepted until November 1, 2026. New stickers will be priced at $2.50 per sticker.

Locations that will be selling stickers are as follows:

• Jewel-Osco

• Valli Produce

• Lemoi Hardware

• City Hall (Collector’s Office)

• Levy Center

• Ecology Center

Billing

The City bills residents for trash, recycling, and food and yard waste cart services every two months on water, sewer, and sanitation bills. More information on the water billing process can be found on the City's Water ebilling webpage.

Additional Carts: The City will no longer charge households for the initial purchase of any additional carts. A monthly fee of $11.93 for each additional trash, food, and yard waste cart assigned to a property.

Change Fee: Households will be permitted one free adjustment to their service per year, with a $90 fee applied for additional requests within the same calendar year. This does not apply to any maintenance of carts (replacing lost carts, repairing or exchanging broken carts)

Special Pickup Fee: The City Council approved in 2025 a three-year pilot where a $1 per unit per month fee is applied to the water bills. Learn more the guidelines and what is accepted on the City's Special Pickups webpage.

Contact 311

Report a lost or damaged trash, recycling, or food and yard waste cart. You can also change the size of your trash cart or have a City-issued cart removed, and note if any collections were missed.

Holiday Service Schedule

Below is a list of the City-recognized holidays. If your collection day falls on or after the holiday, expect services for waste to be postponed by one day. Reminder that the Recycle Coach App is able to adjust notifications for service for holiday scheduling.

• New Year's Day
• Martin Luther King Jr. Day
• Memorial Day
• Juneteenth
• Fourth of July
• Labor Day
• Thanksgiving
• Christmas

City Services Guide

Each year, the City mails out guides that include important information related to waste services. Download the most recent version