NOTE: Beginning Feb. 1, 2021, all trash placed on the curb for collection must be in City-provided trash bags with a City of Columbia logo. Customers will receive vouchers in mid-January (two for trash bags, two for recycling) and June (two for trash bags, one for recycling). Vouchers are sent to the service address regardless of who is paying for the utilities.
There is no limit to the number of bags placed curbside for pickup, as long as they are the City-issued bags with the City logo.
Vouchers can be redeemed at City Hall, Gerbes, Hy-Vee, Menards, Moser’s and Schnucks.
If needed, residents can purchase additional bags in rolls of five for $10. The charge for the additional bags acts as a usage fee where customers throwing away more garbage will pay a higher rate. The $2-per-bag fee will cover extra costs, including the landfill disposal fee, employee salaries and vehicle maintenance.
Customers new to the City will receive a “starter pack” of six official City logo refuse bags and two blue recycling bags when they set up new services at UCS. If the customer signs up in person, UCS will provides the starter pack at that time. If the customer signs up online, UCS will mail the starter pack to the customer. The new customers will then receive vouchers via mail within two weeks.
NOTE: Beginning Feb. 1, 2021, the City of Columbia will resume residential curbside recycling on a modified schedule. Recycling will be picked up every other week on the customers’ regularly scheduled refuse pickup day. Customers will receive a mailer to confirm their recycling schedule. View the press release for more information or download the CoMo Recycle and Trash app to receive reminders about the schedule.
Visit our Recycling Routes map to learn your new recycling curbside pickup schedule. Type your address into the field to see which route your neighborhood is on and a calendar.
Trash Collection
Here’s how it works
Materials must be at the curb by 7 a.m., except during the summer (Memorial Day – Labor Day), when collection will begin at 6:30 a.m. Residents may put bags out as early as 4 p.m. on the day before your scheduled collection.
Materials not placed in bags will no longer be picked up.
Make sure that the bag weighs less than 50 pounds.
For bulky items, please schedule a pick up one week in advance.
Residential Recycling
Residents will continue to receive vouchers for recycling bags. If more blue recycling bags are needed, Columbia residents may request additional vouchers at no cost.
Certain metals – aluminum foil, pie pans, tin trays
Cartons for milk, juice, soups, etc.
Soiled paper towels, plates, cups, tissue paper, pizza boxes
Disposable diapers
If unable to be donated:
Fabrics/textiles/clothing
Ceramic or clay pots, Chinaware porcelain, Pyrex™ items
Scrap metal
Yard Waste Collection:
You can place yard waste on the street curb during your regular collection day (beginning February 1, 2021, use only the City of Columbia logoed trash bags). Yard waste can be used in the City’s Bioreactor Landfill to accelerate the decomposition and stabilization of waste. Methane gas (among others) are collected from the landfill to generate electricity at the City’s Bioenergy Plant.
Instructions:
Place leaves, grass, twigs and any small pieces ofbranches that will fit in any bag (except blue recycling bags) – no boxes or other containers, not to exceed 50 pounds. (Beginning February 1, 2021, a City of Columbia logoed bag ONLY must be used for pickup; items that cannot be bagged must be taken to a opens in a new windowresidential yard waste drop-off center, OR, yard waste, with no trash mixed in, may be taken to the Landfill.) There is no cost for residents to dispose of tree limbs < 8 feet, pallets, leaves or grass clippings at the Landfill’s compost site. Note: Large root balls and tree trunks ≥ 8 feet in length cannot be accepted for our compost operation. Those items can only be disposed in the landfill and will be charged the opens in a new windowlandfill rate.
Backyard Composting (not collected):
Yard Waste – composting involves mixing yard and household organic waste in a pile or bin and providing conditions that encourage decomposition. The decomposition process is fueled by millions of microscopic organisms (bacteria, fungi) that take up residence inside your compost pile, continuously devouring and recycling it to produce a rich organic fertilizer and valuable soil amendment.
Vermicomposting – is the practice of using worms to break down food scraps. The resulting material is a mix of worm castings and decomposed food scraps. The word “vermi” is Latin for worm. Worms like to feed on slowly decomposing organic materials like fruit and vegetable scraps. The worms produce castings that are full of beneficial microbes and nutrients, which makes a great plant fertilizer. Worms are very efficient at breaking down food scraps and can eat over half their body weight in organic matter every day.
Note: Only EMPTY motor oil and antifreeze containers may be place in blue recycling bags. Containers with product remaining can be recycled asHousehold Hazardous Waste at 1313 Lakeview Avenue. The hazardous waste can be dropped-off for free on the 1st and 3rd Saturdays (8:00am-noon), April through November.
Should caps be removed from glass or plastic bottles?
The caps or lids on glass bottles/ jars are made of metal. These are not recyclable and should be disposed as trash. This is different from plastic bottles, where the caps should be left on the container to recycle both items. The plastic bottle and cap are often different types of plastic, but they can now be separated mechanically at the processing facility. –The labels can remain attached to glass or plastic containers.
Can I recycle envelopes with plastic windows or cardboard with packaging tape?
Mail envelopes with a plastic window can be recycled. You might choose to remove the plastic window, but it is not necessary for recycling the paper. Cardboard boxes might contain packaging tape or staples. These also do not need to be removed, but we still request that you fold the boxes, if possible.
How clean do items need to be for recycling?
Beverage bottles can be rinsed, but it is not necessary – they will be cleaned at the processing facility. Glass jars might require some cleaning to remove sauces, jams, and peanut butter. If there is food residue stuck to the item that is larger than a quarter, it should cleaned or not recycled. The same is true for cardboard pizza boxes. Here are some general guidelines to follow…
If the item is losing shape due to grease, it should not be recycled.
If the item has uneaten food, it should be emptied into a trash container or compost site and then get recycled.
Any cheese or sauce stuck to an item should not amount to more than a quarter in size.
Do I need to separate recyclables by material type?
No. –You only need to separate materials by two categories: mixed fibers and mixed containers. The mixed fiber recycling includes cardboard, office paper, newspaper, magazines, and any other paper material. The mixed container category includes aluminum cans, glass bottles, metal food cans, and all types of plastic (except Styrofoam and plastic film/ bags). You do not need to separate different colors of glass or numbered plastics.
Is aluminum foil recyclable?
No. –The aluminum beverage cans that are recyclable in the City of Columbia are considered a different material from aluminum foil. We do not have the space at our recycling facility to separate another material type and it would take a long time for a city with Columbia’s population to collect enough aluminum foil for a shipment. Aluminum foil is often covered in cooking fats, oils, and greases, and sometime include uneaten food. These contaminants would attract wildlife and create an unsafe work environment at our recycling facility, and the volume of waste diverted from our landfill would not be worth the additional costs.
Can the blue recycling bags be recycled?
No. –The blue recycling bags cannot be recycled in the City of Columbia. Once the bags arrive at the Material Recovery Facility, two workers break open the bags and place the loose material on a conveyor line to be sorted. The empty plastic bags are set to the side and would then be transported to the landfill.
Why are plastic bags recyclable at many retail or grocery stores, but not recyclable with the City?
Plastic bags can only be recycled when they are completely clean and sorted from other materials. Retail and grocery stores can offer collection bins for plastics shopping bags because they are already clean and not mixed with any other materials. Those bags are sent directly to a processing facility (not the City of Columbia). The blue recycling bags that are used in curbside collection often have food and beverage residue stuck to the plastic. This would not be a problem for other materials (e.g. aluminum cans), where contaminants get incinerated before the material begins to melt in a furnace. If a banana peel is mixed with recycled plastic bags, the plastic would just melt around the banana peel and cause issues for processing equipment.
Is there a way to recycle any day of the week?
The City’s Recycling and Yard Waste Drop-off Centers are open 7 days/week and can be used by any resident.
Yard Waste – composting involves mixing yard and household organic waste in a pile or bin and providing conditions that encourage decomposition. The decomposition process is fueled by millions of microscopic organisms (bacteria, fungi) that take up residence inside your compost pile, continuously devouring and recycling it to produce a rich organic fertilizer and valuable soil amendment.