The Cambridge Department of Public Works solid waste disposal program involves the weekly curbside pickup of solid waste from residential areas, public buildings, schools and commercial accounts. For public health and aesthetic reasons, it is important to collect the rubbish promptly everyday.

The DPW’s enforcement unit is responsible for enforcing the City’s Refuse & Litter Ordinance. Receptacles must be removed from the curb and brought back onto to your property by 6pm of the day your trash is picked up. In addition, the enforcement unit is responsible for ensuring that every owner or occupant of private property bodering on a street or walkway maintains the sidewalk or walkway up to the center of the street free of litter.

In response to concerns about street cleanliness and rodents, the Cambridge City Council amended the Ordinance in December 2005. Please be aware that new trash collection rules start April 3rd:

• Trash placed at the curb the night before collection must be in rodent-resistant barrels with tight-fitting lids, no earlier than 6pm.
• Trash in plastic bags can only be placed at the curb on the day of collection, no later than 7am.

The white goods (large appliances) pickup program throughout the City continues to be a big success. City residents are charged $20 per pickup of an appliance ($15 if senior citizen) and they receive a orange-colored sticker which is placed on the appliance to be taken. The appliances are picked up by a special truck each Wednesday. The sticker can be purchased at the front desk at the DPW office which is located at 147 Hampshire Street.

The regular weekday rubbish collection is managed by eight rubbish packers, each staffed by a driver and two laborers. The Solid Waste Division is on an incentive work plan whereby the work is finished for the day once all of the trash is collected.