Durham, NC Trash Pickup Schedule
Collection days, holiday changes, recycling rules, and drop-off options for Durham, North Carolina — in one page, with sources.
Trash in Durham, NC runs on a set schedule — your exact day depends on your address. Rules and holiday shifts below.
Pickup days are assigned by address — the city's lookup gives your day, and the schedule repeats each week unless a holiday shifts it.
When is each service collected?
Recurring schedule for Durham services.
| Service | When | Notes |
|---|---|---|
| Trash | Weekly Monday-Friday per service address (84,851-address city table). | Provider: City of Durham Solid Waste Management Department. |
| Recycling | Every-other-week recycling keyed by RED/BLUE color week + weekday per address (e.g., 'RED... | Every-other-week recycling keyed by RED/BLUE color week + weekday per address (e.g., 'RED MONDAY', 'BLUE THURSDAY'). |
What about bulky or special items?
Mattresses, appliances, storm debris — the rules before you set them out.
- Red/Blue recycling weeks — Durham recycling is every-other-week tracked by cart color (RED week / BLUE week) paired with the weekday - e.g., 'RED MONDAY' addresses recycle alternating Mondays.
Who collects what?
The provider for each service and how to reach them.
| Service | Provider | Contact |
|---|---|---|
| Trash | City of Durham Solid Waste Management Department | |
| Recycling | City of Durham Solid Waste Management Department |
Common questions
The things Durham residents ask most.
What day is trash pickup in Durham, NC?
Weekly Monday-Friday by address (city table of 84,851 service addresses); recycling alternates RED/BLUE color weeks on the same weekday.
What changed recently?
Every update to this page, newest first.
- Record created from Durham's address-level solid waste table via aggregate statistics (84,851 addresses too large for GeoJSON capture) - the city whose public routes layer was private, cracked through its address dataset.
- QA: population corrected to Census Vintage 2023 estimate (Durham city: 296,186; prior estimate 290000).
- UPGRADE: geometry now attached - 84,851 service address points downloaded (67 MB, coarse offset 0.002) with ServiceDay (MONDAY 22,816 / WEDNESDAY 22,134 / THURSDAY 20,308 / TUESDAY 19,490 + 45 M/T/W/TH/F/S + 23 TH), RecycleDay (RED/BLUE week pairs), YWDay. Previously aggregates-only.
Population 296,186 · Sources: Durham NC Solid Waste Collection Addresses (84,851 service addresses;… · Summarized from municipal, hauler, and public-data records; schedules change without notice.