Garbage and Yard Waste Collection

Refuse collection service is provided once a week for all residential buildings with up to five units. Owners of larger multifamily dwelling and commercial buildings must contract directly with private refuse haulers. All trash, recyclables and yard waste are scheduled to be picked up on the same day of the week.

The Village's garbage contractor provides 96-gallon and 64-gallon wheeled containers for trash. Trash must be placed into a tightly covered trash container. Loose trash outside the container will not be picked up. Place trash and recycling containers out for collection no later than 7 a.m. on the morning of your collection day. Containers placed out for collection at the curb must be removed from the curbs by 10 p.m. that night.

Items that are either prohibited by landfills or unacceptable for collection include car parts, dirt , soil, concrete, tires, motor oil, pesticides, acid, gasoline, anti-freeze, pool chemicals, automotive batteries, liquid paint and electronics such as computers, monitors and TVs. If any of these items are mixed with your trash, collection will not be made. If your collection is missed, call 844.633.3577 the following day.

Refuse is not collected on major holidays (New Year's Day, Memorial Day, 4th of July, Labor Day, Thanksgiving and Christmas), typically delaying collections by one day. (JPG, 893KB)

Any item that does not fit into your green trash cart requires the use of pink refuse stickers. Refuse stickers can be purchased for $3.25 at the following locations:

• Village Hall, 123 Madison Street
• Sugar Beet Food Co-Op, 812 Madison
• Pete's Fresh Market, 259 Lake Street
• PJ's Ace Hardware, 7 Chicago Avenue
• Jewel Food Stores, 438 Madison Street, 7036 Roosevelt Rd. and 7572 Lake Street (River Forest)
• Schauer Hardware, 7449 Madison Street in Forest Park

One pink refuse sticker is required for extra bags of garbage 30 gallons or less, two (2) pink stickers are required for items larger than a 30-gallon bag. Bulk items such as a mattresses, box springs, sofas, rolled carpeting and furniture will be collected on your regular refuse collection day with two pink refuse stickers. One bulk item can be placed out each week.

To remove a large amount of waste, such as cleaning out a garage or do-it-yourself project, residents can rent a dumpster from LRS. Visit www.lrsrecycles.com/oakpark for more information.

Appliances

Appliances such as refrigerators, stoves, water heaters, and microwaves will be collected on the regularly scheduled collection day. Appliances cannot go into a landfill and require special disposal. Please call the Village at least two days prior to discarding appliances to schedule a special collection. For special collections call 844.633.3577 or email Service@LRSrecycles.com.

Bundled brush and other yard waste are picked up for a fee on the regular garbage collection schedule from the first full week of April through the last full week of November provided green yard waste stickers are properly affixed to bundles of brush and containers of yard waste. Stickers can be purchased for $3.25 each at the following locations:

• Village Hall, 123 Madison Street
• Sugar Beet Food Co-Op, 812 Madison
• Pete’s Fresh Market, 259 Lake Street
• PJ's Ace Hardware, 7 Chicago Avenue
• Jewel Food Stores, 438 Madison Street, 7036 Roosevelt Rd. and 7572 Lake Street (River Forest)
• Schauer Hardware, 7449 Madison Street in Forest Park

A yard waste sticker must be placed on each bundle of brush no larger than two feet in diameter, four feet in length, and not exceeding 50 pounds.

During yard waste season, material such as grass clippings, leaves, branches, vines and any greenery produced from gardening or landscaping, must be placed in paper yard waste bags or rigid containers up to 32-gallons. Free container labels that say Yard Waste Only are available at the Public Works Center, 201 South Blvd.

Bundles of brush and yard waste bags and containers should be placed in the regular collection area no later than 7 a.m. on the same collection day as the trash. Outside of yard waste season, residents that do not participate in the Compostable Program are required to bag their yard waste, affix a green sticker, and schedule a pickup with the Village’s contracted hauler LRS for a fee. To schedule a yard waste pickup during December 1 – March 30 please call 844.633.3577.

Residents in single-family homes and buildings with five or fewer units can schedule at-home collections of materials such as garden chemicals, automotive fluids, paint products and household cleaners as well as electronic items like televisions, computers, fax machines, printers and cell phones.

Electronic/Hazardous Household Waste Collection Program

The annual fall leaf collection program offers residents multiple opportunities to have their leaves hauled away at no charge. The program consists of regularly scheduled pickups in all residential areas for about seven weeks during the season. A map the includes pick-up dates is published each year in the October and November issues of the OP/FYI community newsletter. To reduce impact on traffic, Public Works crews push the leaves residents rake into the street into piles during the night for collection the following day. Leaves must be raked into the street at least 18 inches from the curb the day before the scheduled pickup dates. Residents who miss a scheduled pickup date should keep their leaves on the parkway until the night before the next scheduled pickup. Cooperation is essential to the success of this operation, so please follow these simple rules:

• Do not add brush, grass clippings or yard waste to leaf piles. The collection program is for leaves only.
• Rake leaves onto side streets whenever possible. Try to avoid major thoroughfares where piles of leaves might create traffic hazards. Do not rake leaves into or close to cul de sacs or traffic diverters. The equipment needs room to operate.
• Keep catch basins clear of raked leaves. Clogged basins may cause flooding.
• Inform your landscape service of the leaf collection schedule.
• Do not park on or near a pile of leaves. Heat from your car could ignite the leaves. In addition, your car could interfere with leaf removal.
• Obey all parking restrictions. Regulations will be strictly enforced.
• Dampen pile after raking to avoid having leaves blown by the wind.

As an alternative to raking and hauling, consider composting your leaves or using them as mulch to cover your garden for the winter. And remember to drive safely. Watch for large piles of leaves during the collection period. Also, leaves are slippery when wet. When the fall leaf collection program is not in effect, leaves can be included as part of the regular yard waste collection process.

Recyclables are picked up on the same day as trash and yard waste. The Village provides 64-gallon recycling containers to encourage more recycling. Larger carts with wheels and lids mean residents are better able to take full advantage of Oak Park's single-stream collection approach that eliminates the need to separate recyclables. All recyclable materials, whether paper, glass, plastic, aluminum or most metal containers, can be tossed into the same collection vessel, with separation occurring at the recycling sorting center. Items should not be put into plastic bags but placed loosely into the blue cart.

Find complete recycling guidelines and information at the recycling page.

With the goal of decreasing the amount of organic refuse sent to landfills, the Village of Oak Park offers a food scrap composting program to residents throughout the community.

Visit the compostable page for more information and to sign up for the program.

The Village’s refuse hauler collects holiday trees during the first and second weeks of January. Trees picked up at regular collection points on regularly scheduled pick up days if they are free of plastic bags, decorations and tree stands. Since all trees collected are mulched at a licensed composting facility and used for soil enrichment, wreaths and garlands cannot be collected for composting because they contain wire. Place them in the trash container.

Holiday lights can be recycled by scheduling an E-waste pickup at www.lrsrecycles.com/oakpark. Between Dec. 1 and Jan. 31 holiday lights can also be dropped off in bins in the first-floor lobby of the Public Works Center at 201 South Blvd. between 7:30 a.m. and 4 p.m. on weekdays.