Winter Holiday Waste Collection Schedule for 2024 

With the holiday season upon us, we wanted to share an important reminder to customers about our services.  

Garbage, recycling, and food & yard waste will not be collected on the following upcoming holidays:  

• Christmas Day (12/25/2024)  

• New Year’s Day (1/1/2025)  

During the weeks of Christmas and New Years, there will be a one-day delay for solid waste collections on Wednesday, Thursday, and Friday. 

• Wednesday collections will be picked up on Thursday  

• Thursday collections will be picked up on Friday 

• Friday collections will be picked up on Saturday 

2024 holiday collection schedule:  

The City of Seattle’s North and South Transfer Stations will be closed on:   

• Wednesday, December 25, 2024 

• Wednesday, January 1, 2025

Compost holiday trees & greens for free this holiday season  

Customers can compost trees and holiday greens for free from December 26 – January 31! Remove all decorations, cut into sections 4-foot or less, and place trees or bundled greens next to your Food & Yard Waste cart on your regular collection day. Apartment residents may place up to two trees next to each Food & Yard waste cart at no charge. You can also drop off up to 3 trees less than 8 feet in length at a Transfer Station.   

To find out what to do with your other holiday items once you’re done with them, check out  SPU’s Where Does It Go lookup tool. 

Snow/ice collection delays  

During the winter season, snow and icy roads may prevent Seattle Public Utilities’ contracted haulers from collecting garbage, recycling, or food/ yard waste. Collection trucks can weigh up to 30 tons and cannot safely navigate icy streets the same way our cars can. In the case of severe weather, there are several places to go to find out whether your collection has been postponed:  

• Seattle Public Utilities’ website  

• Seattle Public Utilities’ At Your Service Blog  

• SPU’s social media accounts on  X (formerly known as Twitter), Facebook, and Instagram   

• Sign up for Seattle Public Utilities alerts through AlertSeattle 

• Download the Recycle It app  

• Posted updates via Nextdoor.com  

Thank you for your patience as we plan for inclement weather and navigate our holiday schedule.