Trash and recycling day in Bellaire

Find your service area

The city divides Bellaire into five service areas, A through E, and posts a map of them on its Solid Waste and Recycling Collection Schedules page. Look up your street on that map once and write the letter on the inside of a kitchen cabinet. Neighbors in different areas are on different days.

The weekly schedule

Here is how the city's schedule works out for each area:

- Area A. Trash Monday and Thursday, recycling Wednesday, limbs and brush Friday. - Area B. Trash Monday and Thursday, recycling Tuesday, limbs and brush Wednesday. - Area C. Trash Tuesday and Friday, recycling Wednesday, limbs and brush Thursday. - Area D. Trash Tuesday and Friday, recycling Wednesday, limbs and brush Monday. - Area E. Trash Monday and Thursday, recycling Friday, limbs and brush Tuesday.

When a holiday falls on your day, the city's rule is simple: trash and recycling are collected on your next regular collection day after the holiday. If a pickup is missed for another reason, Public Works says it will try again the next business day, and if that fails, on your next scheduled day.

Setting it out

Nothing should go out before 6 p.m. the day before, and everything has to be out by 7 a.m., when crews start. Put trash behind the curb and no more than 3 feet from it, and keep the spot clear of low branches and wires, since the trucks need room overhead.

The city's collection tips set the bag rules. Use plastic bags of at least 1.5 mil and 20 gallons, closed tight with a tie so nothing leaks. Each bag can weigh no more than 25 pounds, and crews take no more than six bags per home on a collection day. Wrap broken glass and other sharp objects in cardboard and tape them. Put needles in a bottle or other container with a lid. Latex paint goes out only when it has dried hard; oil-based paint, automotive fluids and pool chemicals do not go in the trash at all.

Recycling

Recycling is collected loose, never in a plastic bag. The city's curbside recycling guide accepts plastics numbered 1 through 7, brown, clear and green glass bottles and jars, aluminum and steel cans, newspaper without its plastic sleeve, junk mail and copier paper, magazines, flattened cereal and snack boxes and flattened corrugated boxes. Everything has to be empty, clean and dry.

Nothing should go out before 6 p.m. the day before, and everything has to be out by 7 a.m., when crews start.

The same guide keeps out plastic bags, pizza boxes, greasy or dirty containers, plates and cups, bottles or cans with liquid still in them, any container with food left in it, foam cups and containers even when they carry a recycling symbol, and unnumbered plastic. The guide also rules out anything smaller than 2 inches in any direction. The guide also asks you to hold back paper and cardboard when rain is expected.

Limbs, brush and yard waste

Brush has its own day, and its own limits. Limbs 3 inches thick or less are cut into 4-foot lengths and tied in bundles no more than 2 feet across, with a limit of three bundles. Limbs thicker than 3 inches can be up to 8 inches across, cut no longer than 4 feet and stacked behind the curb in piles no higher than 4 feet. The city takes up to 200 pounds of a resident's own yard trimmings on a collection day.

Yard work done by a paid crew is different. The city's rules say debris from commercial yard work has to be hauled off by the contractor, so if you hire a service such as Heroes Lawn Care of Bellaire, at 6575 W Loop S, ask before the job whether removal is included. The city also asks residents to leave grass clippings on the lawn rather than bagging them, a practice it calls grasscycling.

Heavy trash and what the city won't take

Heavy trash is collected by appointment through Public Works, which the city lists at 5808 S. Rice Avenue. Call or write to the department before you put anything large at the curb.

Some things the city does not collect at all, appointment or not. Its non-disposable items list includes mattresses, dressers and sofas; remodeling and fencing material, concrete, brick, sheetrock and lumber; auto parts, motor oil, batteries, tires and rims; refrigerators, stoves, computers and other large appliances; and pool chemicals, chlorine and helium tanks.

For those, you need another route. A hauler such as College Hunks Hauling Junk and Moving, at 5233 Bellaire Blvd, takes furniture and household loads for a fee; ask for a written quote. For old tires, ask a shop such as Bellaire Tire, at 5321 Bissonnet St, whether it will take them when you buy new ones. For used motor oil and car batteries, ask an auto parts store such as O'Reilly Auto Parts, at 5134 Spruce Street, what it accepts. Paint thinners, solvents and other household chemicals go to Harris County's household hazardous waste facility, which the city points residents to.

The bill

Solid waste service is charged on the city utility bill, and Bellaire City Utility Billing, at 7008 S Rice Ave, handles questions about the charge. Rates change with the city's fiscal year, which starts October 1, so read the current rate sheet rather than an old bill.

Before you go

- Look up your service area letter on the city's map before your first week in the house. - Set trash out after 6 p.m. the night before and no later than 7 a.m. on the day. - Keep recycling loose, clean and dry, and never put it in a plastic bag. - Book heavy trash through Public Works before you put anything large at the curb. - Ask any yard or remodeling contractor in writing whether hauling the debris is part of the price.

Sources

- City of Bellaire, Solid Waste and Recycling Collection Schedules (https://www.bellairetx.gov/1241/Solid-Waste-and-Recycling-Collection-Sch) - City of Bellaire, Solid Waste (https://www.bellairetx.gov/641/Solid-Waste) - City of Bellaire, Solid Waste Collection Tips (https://www.bellairetx.gov/883/Solid-Waste-Collection-Tips) - City of Bellaire, Curbside Recycling Guide (https://www.bellairetx.gov/DocumentCenter/View/17421) - City of Bellaire, Non-Disposable Items (https://www.bellairetx.gov/925/Non-Disposable-Items) - City of Bellaire, Household Hazardous Waste (https://www.bellairetx.gov/975/Household-Hazardous-Waste-HHW) - City of Bellaire, Grasscycling (https://www.bellairetx.gov/875/Grasscycling---Dont-Bag-em-Leave-em) - City of Bellaire, Public Works (https://www.bellairetx.gov/630/Public-Works)

En español

En Bellaire, el departamento de Obras Públicas de la ciudad recoge la basura dos veces por semana, el reciclaje una vez por semana y las ramas una vez por semana. Los días dependen de su zona de servicio, de la A a la E, que aparece en el mapa de la ciudad. Saque las bolsas después de las 6 p.m. de la noche anterior y antes de las 7 a.m. del día de recolección, a no más de 3 pies de la acera. Cada bolsa puede pesar hasta 25 libras, con un máximo de seis bolsas por casa. El reciclaje va suelto, limpio y seco, nunca en bolsas de plástico. La basura pesada se recoge con cita, y la ciudad no recoge colchones, muebles grandes, electrodomésticos, llantas ni material de construcción.