The Solid Waste Division is responsible for the collection and disposal of the City's solid waste. This includes special metal pickup, recycling, yardwaste and twice weekly household refuse pickup. For information not listed below, please call 301-809-2344.

Refuse:

Refuse (garbage) is collected twice weekly within the City limits as per the refuse and recycling schedule.

Refuse includes household trash and garbage, mattresses, box springs, wood tables, desks, furniture (regardless of size), rugs and carpets (cut into 4 feet lengths, tied or taped in rolls), old wooden or plastic furniture, sliding glass doors, windows, but no other metal items. It also includes scrap wood and branches larger than 3 inches in diameter (branches still must be no longer than 4 feet and tied securely or placed in boxes or cans) and empty or dried out paint cans). The City will not pick up rocks, dirt, sod, mulch, concrete bricks, car parts, commercial products, or stumps largen than six inches in diameter. In addition, liquid paint, hazardous materials, and any bag or container over 50 pounds will not be collected. Tires will not be collected with refuse, but will require a special pickup.

All refuse should be placed in containers and/or bagged or boxed. Refuse must be placed at the curb for collection no later than 7 a.m. the morning of collection but no earlier than the evening prior to colection.

Special Metal and Tire Pickup:

SPECIAL PICKUP METAL AND TIRES ONLY- The City’s Special Pickup is only for metal items and tires. These are items that are at least 98% metal - refrigerators, freezers, washers, dryers, grills (no propane tanks), bicycles, lawn mowers, metal lawn furniture, small metal appliances, storm doors/windows (only if the glass has been removed-otherwise regular trash), water heaters etc. Tires may be on or off the rims – car or pickup truck only-no commercial tires. There is a limit of 5 tires per address, per year. Call 301-809-2344 by noon Tuesday for that Wednesday’s collection. You must call to have the metal items and tires collected.

Call 301-809-2344 to arrange a special metal pickup. Once you have scheduled a special pickup, please have your item out at the curbside by 7a.m. on Wednesday morning

Recycling:

The City collects recycling at curbside once weekly. The following items listed in the recycling chart below (in the acceptable items column) are collected by the City.:

All recycling must be at the curb by 7 a.m. The City collects

• GLASS food and beverage containers (clear and colored);
• ALUMINUM beverage cans,
• BI-METAL cans -food containers.
• PLASTIC BOTTLES with necks (i.e. soda, milk, detergent ONLY). No motor oil or chemical bottles; no margarine/butter tubs, yogurt containers or styrofoam. All should be rinsed thoroughly. No need to remove labels. These items should be placed in recycling buckets or any container marked “Recycling”.
• NEWSPAPERS, JUNK MAIL, CARDBOARD, PAPERBOARD, WHITE PAPER, and -MAGAZINES must be tied in bundles or placed in PAPER or PLASTIC bags

Do not mix newspapers with glass and cans. Do not set them out loose. Do not put them in the blue bucket or bin.

All recycling should be placed at curbside no later than 7 a.m. on your scheduled recycling day listed below. For further information, please don't hesitate to call the Public Works Department, Monday through Friday, from 7 a.m. to 5 p.m. at 301-809-2344.

When your recycling day falls on one of your refuse days, please place your recycling on one side of your driveway and your refuse on the other.

Yardwaste

The City provides yard waste pickup for grass, leaves and branches every Wednesday. Pickup is automatic. There is no need to call. It will not be picked up with regular trash. Yardwaste consists of leaves, grass clippings, branchess less than 3 inches in diameter. No bamboo, dirt, mulch or sod is accepted. Bamboo will be collected with regular trash. Branches must be no longer than four feet nor wider than three inches in diameter. If branches are larger than that, cut them up to firewood size and leave them out with your regular trash. Branches must be bundled or put in a box, bag or can. Grass and leaves must be bagged. You do not have to call for yard waste pickup but it must be set at the curb by 7 a.m. Wednesdays. All yard waste is recycled to compost.

REFUSE AND RECYCLING COLLECTION SCHEDULE AS OF 6/24/08

Refuse must be in cans with lids or in bags and weigh no more than 50 lbs. each. All refuse must be placed at the curb for collection no later than 7 a.m. on the morning of collection. Recycling is collected once weekly and must also be at the curb not later than 7 a.m.. The following schedule lists Refuse and Recycling pick up days - the letter to the right of your section in brackets [ ] is your recycling day:

MONDAY AND THURSDAY REFUSE PICK UP - RECYCLING PICK UP IN [ ]

TUESDAY AND FRIDAY REFUSE PICK UP - RECYCLING PICK UP IN [ ]

**HOLIDAYS** New Year's Day; Martin Luther King, Jr.'s Birthday; Presidents Day; Memorial Day; 4th of July; Labor Day; Veterans Day; Thanksgiving Thursday & Friday; Christmas. Refuse and recycling will not be collected on these days and there is no make up day.

REFUSE includes household trash and garbage, mattresses, rugs and carpets (cut into 4 foot lengths, tied or taped in rolls), old wooden or plastic furniture, sliding glass doors, old windows, scrap wood and branches larger than 3" in diameter (branches still must be no longer than 4' and tied securely or placed in boxes or cans), and empty or dried out paint cans.

Metal Items (washers, dryers, bikes, freezers, grills, water heaters etc.) and tires will only be picked up as a SPECIAL PICKUP and must be called in to Public Works by Tuesday NOON to be scheduled for pick up on Wednesday. Call 301-809-2344

MOTOR OIL, OIL FILTERS AND ANTIFREEZE - ONLY - MAY BE RECYCLED AT THE DROP OFF LOCATED AT PUBLIC WORKS (ROUTE 450, 1/4 MILE WEST OF ROUTE 3) – M-F 7 AM TO 5 PM, on the first SATURDAY EACH MONTH between 8-2: and on OTHER SATURDAYS from 10-2.

Refuse and Recycling Tips

• Refuse should be put in bags and/or cans with lids. No bag or can may weigh over 50 lbs.
  
• Recycling containers are available at City Hall 2614 Kenhill Drive - one per resident please -- Recycling may be put in ANY container or box. Just mark it "RECYCLING"!
  
• When your recycling day falls on one of your refuse days, please place your recycling on one side of your driveway and your refuse on the other.

• Newspapers are picked up separately from glass and cans by a refuse truck with a large "NEWSPAPERS" sign affixed to the sides.

• Latex Paint is NOT considered hazardous waste. To dispose of old cans of latex paint please make sure all paint is dried up (if not, it will leak from trucks onto roadways!). You can dry it quickly by removing the lids and/or adding Kitty Litter to absorb the paint. Then place it with your regular trash.

• Used Oil and Antifreeze: The City operates a drop off facility for used oil, filters and antifreeze only just inside the Public Works entrance on Route 450 just west of Route 3. This facility is open from 7 AM until 5 PM, Monday through Friday and on the first Saturday of the month from 8 AM to 2 PM. All other Saturdays it is open from 10 AM to 2 PM.

• Hazardous Waste and Electronics Recycling: The City of Bowie does not collect hazardous waste at curbside. Nor does it collect electronics for recycling.
  
  Prince George's County collects Hazardous Waste and accepts electronics for recycling at the Brown Station Landfill in Upper Marlboro on Thursdays, Fridays and Saturdays from 7:30 a.m. to 3:30 p.m. For more information call 301-883-5045 or the Prince George's County Brown Station Landfill at 301-952-7610.
  
• Tips on disposing of Compact Fluorescent Llightbulbs (CFLs):
  There are new energy efficient light bulbs on the market. Known as compact fluorescent light bulbs or CFLs, they are generally recognizable by their spiral shape, although they can come in traditional shapes as well. These bulbs use 75% less energy than incandescent bulbs and last up to ten times longer.

  However, CFLs contain minute amounts of mercury, and must be treated as hazardous waste when cleaning up broken bulbs or disposing of them. At present, these bulbs and other hazardous waste must be taken to the County’s Landfill in Upper Marlboro for disposal. To contact the County Hazardous Waste Office call 301-883-5045. For more information about CFL bulbs, visit www.energystar.gov/cfls.
  

Examples of hazardous waste

This page updated 6/08