Household Garbage
Households within city limits will be required to purchase a 95-gallon trash container for all normal household garbage, small items and non-recyclables. The container, which is easily rolled to curbside on collection day, utilizes an automated collection system. The container is assigned to the property address and must not be taken with you if you change residences. To assure pickup, all refuse must be at curbside by 8:00 a.m. on your scheduled collection day. The preferred location for the container for collection is at the edge of the street with the handle facing the house. Excess trash, placed outside the container, WILL NOT be picked up. For information regarding your collection day, please contact the Public Works Department at 252-337-6628.
Please do not place the container by mailboxes, fences, lampposts, etc. or under low hanging wires or lines. The City requests that you refrain from parking along the streets on the side from which the containers will be collected that day. If the containers are to be collected from both sides of the street, please leave at least a 15-foot clearance between vehicles in front of the container.
Items that must NOT be placed in the containers include: dirt, sod, rocks, concrete, yard waste, toxic and or flammable materials (oil, gas or paint, hot ashes) and debris from construction, remodeling or demolition. City-issued containers will hold the equivalent of three or four normal garbage cans. No other container will be permitted other than the automated container. If you regularly generate more refuse than the container will hold, you should purchase an additional container. There is a limit of two containers per household. For more information, regarding the purchase of additional containers, call Customer Service at 252-338-3981.
If your container is stolen, a report should be filed with the Elizabeth City Police Department. You must provide the serial number of the container. Stolen, damaged or destroyed containers may be replaced by purchase from Customer Service. Replacement parts are provided at no cost.
On occasion, the City may not be able to provide service due to various reasons, such as an overfilled container, or if the container is not accessible. If so, a tag will be turned in to the Sanitation Division explaining the reason for non-service. If your service is missed, please call the Public Works Department at 252-337-6628 by noon of the following day.
Your collection day may change on special holidays when the landfill is closed. Notices are placed on this website under “News and Announcements,” on the City’s Public Access Channel (Spectrum Channel 11), and in the local paper to announce any changes.
For your children’s safety, do not allow them to play near the collection trucks or inside the containers.
Please neatly stencil your house number on your container below the lid on the upper portion of the container and make a record of the container’s serial number.
You must remove the container from the curb on the same day as pickup.