Trash, Recycling and Yard Waste in Melbourne

WM, which the city page also calls Waste Management, collects solid waste, recycling and yard waste for the City of Melbourne under contract, according to the city's Trash and Recycling page as read on October 18, 2026.

City questions go to the ECO Division, the Environmental Community Outreach unit listed among the Public Works and Utilities pages, at 321-608-5080 or [email protected]. The city's ECO Division page says the division works directly with the city's waste collection agency to solve problems for Melbourne customers, take service requests and answer questions about trash and recycling pickup, while WM customer service answers at 321-723-4455 and [email protected]. For schedules, the Melbourne page directs each household to enter its address on the city's interactive collection map, which shows its garbage, recycling and bulk and containerized yard waste days.

Two Melbourne contacts handle complaints. The city's Report a Problem page sends a missed trash or recycling pickup to WM at 321-723-4455 or to the ECO Division at 321-608-5080, and it routes grass clippings, debris or trash left in the curb or roadway to a separate line, 321-608-7341.

A Melbourne household uses a green-lidded garbage cart and a yellow-lidded recycling cart, set out after 5 p.m. the day before collection.

Melbourne uses a two-cart system with wheels. The cart with the green lid is for garbage only and the cart with the yellow lid is for recycling only. A new residential customer can request a 96-gallon, 64-gallon or 35-gallon cart if one is not already at the home. Extra carts cost $70 each from WM, and swapping a garbage cart for a larger or smaller size costs $25 through the WM line.

Melbourne sets a placement window. Carts and yard waste cans may not reach the curb until after 5 p.m. the day before collection and should be there by 6 a.m. on collection day, and the city's Code Enforcement page adds that containers must return behind the face of the building on the day of collection. Between pickups, empty carts are stored behind the front building line, as City Code requires. Because WM trucks lift carts with a side arm, the front of each cart faces the street, and carts stay off the sidewalk and out from under low hanging limbs.

All recycling in Melbourne is collected on Wednesdays, according to the Public Works and Utilities trash page.

For accepted materials, the Melbourne page points residents to WM's online recycling guide, to a printable WM poster titled What's Recyclable at Home, and to Brevard County's recycling information page. Recycling goes only in the yellow-lidded cart, and the city warns against using either cart for yard waste.

WM observes five holidays in Melbourne: Memorial Day, the Fourth of July, Veterans Day, Thanksgiving and Christmas. Households whose pickup falls on one of those days are served on the next regularly scheduled collection day, and WM posts changes on a holiday service alerts page. For a fuller printed reference, the Melbourne trash page links a Residential Guide to Waste Disposal and Recycling in the City of Melbourne as a 21 MB PDF.

Containerized yard waste is collected once a week in Melbourne, and the city defines yard waste as anything that grows on a property and is cut, such as grass clippings, weeds, twigs, branches, palm fronds and leaves.

Containers in Melbourne must be plastic or metal, no larger than 40 gallons and no heavier than 50 pounds. Branches must be cut to four feet or less, and yard waste is not accepted in plastic or paper bags.

Placement rules in Melbourne protect drainage and utilities. Yard waste may not sit on or in a storm drain, over a water meter, under power lines or trees, or where it hides a fire hydrant, and it may not be left on vacant lots, city streets, medians or parks. Piles too big for cans can be stacked near the roadway off the curb and gutter, and large stacked piles should be picked up within 5 days of the regular container collection date. WM's clam truck handles special bulk yard waste by appointment. Debris from landscape contractors or tree removal crews is the contractor's to haul away, not part of the city's sanitation contract.

Melbourne also asks that yard waste piles be free of anything that did not grow on the property, naming wood fencing, doors and landscaping timbers as examples, and it repeats that neither the green garbage cart nor the yellow recycling cart may be used for clippings or branches. Questions about preparation go to the ECO Division at 321-608-5080, and WM publishes a flyer, How to Prepare Yard Waste for Collection, that the city links from its page. The Melbourne ECO Division page also lists a Composter Rebate, a Rain Barrel Rebate, a Toilet Rebate, the Trash Bash cleanup and an Adopt-a-Road Program among its programs, alongside its work on recycling rates and litter reduction.

Bulky items such as furniture and bicycles go to the curb in Melbourne on the yard waste collection day, kept 3 feet from storm drains, yard waste, carts and other obstructions.

Specialty items are scheduled through WM's bulk trash pickup page, which notes that pricing and options vary by area. In Melbourne those include appliances, which must have doors removed and contents emptied; electronics, which must have batteries removed; and up to four standard vehicle tires per year.

WM does not collect wood fencing, lumber, docks, plywood, pallets or other construction and demolition material at the Melbourne curb. The city lists three alternatives: hauling the wood to the Cocoa Landfill at 2520 Adamson Road, where residents can drop it off at no charge; buying a WM Bagster bag, which holds up to 3,300 pounds; or hiring a roll-off provider. WM will also schedule a curbside C&D pickup for an added charge.

Household chemicals and electronics from Melbourne homes go to the household hazardous waste facility at the Sarno Landfill and Transfer Station, 3379 Sarno Road, open to Brevard County residents Monday through Saturday from 8 a.m. to 4 p.m. It accepts paint, pool chemicals, pesticides, fertilizers, automotive batteries, fluorescent bulbs, thermostats, flat screen TVs, computers and cell phones, among other items, and answers at 321-255-4452. The same Sarno Road site is where the Melbourne page sends batteries pulled from electronics before a curbside pickup, and its accepted list also covers aerosol cans, cleaners, paint thinner, solvents, thermometers, wood preservatives, VCRs, copiers, printers, scanners and digital cameras.

Hurricane threats change Melbourne trash service, because WM collections stop if the Brevard County landfills close.

The Melbourne trash page asks residents and businesses to trim trees before hurricane season, to stop landscape trimming once a storm threatens, and to keep any yard waste on hand away from the curb, where it could clog drainage structures or be picked up by high winds. If a hurricane threat closes the Brevard County landfills, WM collections in Melbourne stop at that time. The guidance ties back to the city's drainage rules: the same page that bars yard waste from storm drains and gutters in ordinary weeks treats curbside debris as a flooding and wind hazard in storm season. Public Works and Utilities, the Melbourne department that lists Trash and Recycling among its pages and is responsible for stormwater management, keeps office hours of 7:30 a.m. to 4 p.m. on weekdays at 321-608-5000.

The city's Hurricane Preparation page sets the season at June 1 through November 30 and warns that hurricanes create debris that often takes weeks or months to collect. It asks Melbourne residents to remove dead limbs, branches and palm fronds from trees before a storm is in the forecast, to clear trash and yard debris from the ground that high winds could pick up, and never to stack tree trimmings, yard debris or trash on top of a stormwater inlet, where it can wash in, clog the inlet and cause street flooding.

Last verified: October 18, 2026, by checking both City of Melbourne Trash and Recycling pages, the Report a Problem, Code Enforcement, ECO Division, Hurricane Preparation and Public Works and Utilities pages, and WM's bulk trash pickup page.