Among your many duties as an off-campus resident, you will most likely be responsible for taking out the trash for your house or apartment. Soon after move-in day, look up the Ann Arbor refuse collection schedule on a2gov.org and decide with your roommates who will take the bins out to the curb each week. On your assigned day, all trash containers must be placed at the curb before 7 AM. Keep in mind that containers may be set at the curb no earlier than 24 hours beforehand, and must be removed no later than noon the next day. All garbage must be fully contained inside trash bins or dumpsters, or you may be subject to fines or clean-up fees.
For bulky items such as furniture, electronics, and mattresses that don’t fit inside your trash cart, you must contact a private waste hauler or bring the items to the Recycle Ann Arbor Drop-Off Station on Ellsworth Rd. During student move-in and move-out, the City of Ann Arbor provides an additional trash drop-off location at the corner of East University and Oakland in the East Packard Neighborhood.
Do not dispose of household hazardous wastes (including pesticides, drain cleansers, oil-based paints, motor oil, and household rechargeable batteries) with your regular garbage. It is also dangerous to dump these toxic items down the drain or pour them on the ground as they can leak into our groundwater. Bring any hazardous wastes in their original container to Washtenaw County’s Home Toxics Center on Zeeb Rd. (open the first three Saturdays of each month).
Ann Arbor contracts with Recycle Ann Arbor to provide free, easy-to-use recycling collection and processing services. Each week, recyclables are collected at the curb using a single-stream system, which allows all recyclables to be placed into one cart without sorting paper from other materials. Bring your blue recycling cart out with the trash bins on your assigned collection day. Ann Arbor residents are entitled to a free recycling cart, so if your residence does not come with one, contact your landlord.
For more details on household recycling, please visit this page on the City of Ann Arbor website.