EDCO Waste and Recycling Services provides each household with a gray cart for trash and a blue cart for recyclable materials. Green waste (lawn clippings and garden refuse) go in standard metal or plastic trash cans.

·         Green waste is grass, weeds, flowers, clippings, and branches.

·         Disposal of sod and ice plants is acceptable, but only in small quantities. Due to the weight of those ma­terials, fill cans only half full.

·         Cans with green waste should weigh no more than 50 pounds.

·         Do not use plastic bags to dispose of green waste. Lawn services should be notified of this rule.

·         Do not put plastic bags in the cans you use for green waste. Bags – even biodegradable bags – will contaminate the green waste.

·         Green waste must be clean in order to be recycled: No dirt, rocks, asphalt, concrete or sand and no kitchen scraps, fruit, or other material (even if it is compostable).

·         Green waste cannot contain cat litter or other pet waste. Pet waste and cat litter should be bagged and put in the gray trash cart.

·         Tree trimmings must be cut and securely bundled so that each bundle is no longer than four feet and no thicker through the middle than 18 inches and no heavier than 20 pounds each.

There’s no limit on the number of cans of green waste or bundles of tree trimmings you can set out at the curb each week.

Click for FAQs on this topic 

Trash day lookup: www.lakewoodcity.org/servicesbyaddress

Recycling made easy

The EDCO website (www.edcodisposal.com) includes text and video that explain what goes in the blue recy­cling cart.

All glass and metal containers are recyclable. But there may be some uncertainty about plastic containers. Plastic containers are marked (often on the bottom of the container) with a symbol that identifies if it’s recyclable. Plastic con­tainers marked with the recycling symbol and with 1 -7 inside the symbol are recyclable. (Styrofoam, PVC pipe, vinyl siding, plastic film (grocery bags and stretch film are not to be recycled.)

Lakewood’s curbside recycling service allows you to mix recyclables in one cart. Glass jars and bottles, card­board, paper bags, newspapers (including inserts), alumi­num and steel cans, plastic containers, and mixed paper (including magazines) can go into the blue recycling cart.

·         Don’t bag your recyclables. Drop them unbagged into the blue cart.

Still unsure what to recycle? Don’t panic. Lakewood’s recyclables go to a “materials recovery facility” where the contents of every cart are sorted and the occasional non-recyclable item removed.

Trash collected right

Put all your recyclables in the blue cart. Put lawn clip­pings and tree trimmings in your own trash cans. EDCO supplies only the blue and gray carts. EDCO picks up trash only from the gray cart. Do not use any other con­tainer for trash.

·         Set out your gray trash cart, blue recycling cart, and cans for green waste at the curb before 6:00 a.m.

·         Place all carts and cans in front of the curb in the street.

·         Arrows embossed on the cart lid should point to­ward the street.

·         Keep a minimum of two feet between the gray trash cart, blue recycling cart, and cans for green waste.

·         Keep containers at least three feet from parked cars.

·         Do not overload carts. Lids should be closed. The contents should be loose enough to empty freely when the cart is lifted and dumped by the automated truck.

·         Need help?

Call Lakewood customer service at a 562-866-9771, extension 2140 for assis­tance. Or e-mail service1@lakewoodcity.org with trash collection questions.

For questions concerning trash and water billing, call 562-866-9771, extension 2630.

Carts and cans