Oak Park residents served under the Village refuse hauling contract have more options available than most communities to help reduce the typical contaminants found in recycling carts, including At Your Door pick up of electronics and common hazardous household waste such as cleaning solutions and vehicle fluids. In addition, Oak Park offers a fee-based composting program that allows participants to toss most soiled paper and food containers like pizza boxes into a special cart. Foam containers and plastic bags remain a challenge, officials say, but clean plastic bags can be returned to most major grocery and big-box stores for proper recycling. The Village also has a bag fee to encourage residents to rely on reusable bags. More information is posted at www.oak-park.us/recycling.
Refuse collection schedule…The Village provides refuse collection services once a week for all residential buildings with five or fewer units. Owners of larger multifamily dwellings and commercial buildings must contract directly with private refuse haulers. All trash, recyclables and yard waste are scheduled to be picked up on the same day of the week. For more information, call 708.358.5700, email publicworks@oak-park.us or visit www.oak-park.us/refuse.
![map of refuse collection by day of week](/sites/default/files/newsletters/photos/2021-garbage_collection_map.jpg)