Indianapolis picks up trash once a week on a set day tied to your address, and the City’s lookup on indy.gov tells you which day is yours. Collection starts at 7 a.m., so your cart belongs at the curb before then, and eight holidays on the City’s list can push your pickup back a day.
We took the City’s rules below from its pages on indy.gov in October 2026, and we say where we applied them to the calendar ourselves. They cover who collects your district now, which 2026 holidays move pickup, how the cart should sit, what the trucks leave behind and what to do when your street gets missed. Recycling and leaf season run on rules of their own, so we point to those where they come up.
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How Do You Find Your Indianapolis Trash Pickup Day?
Use the City’s address lookup. Start typing your street address and pick it from the list that appears as you type. The owner name and parcel ID should fill in on their own; then press Search. The City’s Find Your Trash Pickup Day page says the lookup shows both your regular trash day and your heavy trash day, and its Solid Waste Districts page says the same form tells you which service provider collects your street.
Pickup runs five days a week, and trucks start at 7 a.m. They do not all arrive at 7, though. The City’s Trash Cart Program page says collectors have until 6 p.m. to finish, so a full cart at noon has not been missed yet.
One more detail trips people up: curbside recycling is not part of this weekly trash service. It is a separate subscription with its own pickup day, run by LRS.
Who Collects Trash in Indianapolis Now, the City or LRS?
Both, split by solid waste district. Since January 1, 2026, Lakeshore Recycling Systems (LRS) has collected trash in districts 1, 2, 3, 4, 6, 9 and 10, and the Indianapolis Department of Public Works (DPW) still collects districts 5, 7, 8 and 11. The City’s Solid Waste Districts page lays out that split and lists each provider’s phone number:
- LRS (districts 1, 2, 3, 4, 6, 9 and 10): 317-245-4444 or 844-NEED-LRS
- DPW (districts 5, 7, 8 and 11): 317-327-4000
The address lookup in the first section tells you which of the two serves your street.
If a Republic Services or WM truck used to empty your cart, LRS collects it now. The City’s Trash Cart Transition FAQs say homes in Republic and WM service areas moved to LRS on January 1, 2026, while DPW kept its own districts. The FAQs also answer the obvious next question, whether trash day changed, with a plain no: LRS committed to keeping the existing routes and schedules.
Whichever crew empties your cart, the cart and the rules come from the City. The gray 96-gallon cart is City-issued, and the set-out rules below are the ones indy.gov publishes.
Which Holidays Push Trash Pickup Back a Day for Indianapolis Homes?
Eight. The City’s Find Your Trash Pickup Day page lists eight holidays when trash, heavy trash and recycling pickup is delayed one day: New Year’s Day, Martin Luther King Jr. Day, Memorial Day, Juneteenth, Independence Day, Labor Day, Thanksgiving Day and Christmas Day. It calls this a slide schedule, where a household with Monday collection gets it on Tuesday, and so on.
One exception matters. A holiday that falls on a Saturday or Sunday is not observed, so pickup that week runs on the normal schedule. Here is how that list lands on the 2026 calendar:
| Holiday | 2026 date | What happens to pickup |
|---|---|---|
| New Year’s Day | Thursday, January 1 | Slides one day |
| Martin Luther King Jr. Day | Monday, January 19 | Slides one day |
| Memorial Day | Monday, May 25 | Slides one day |
| Juneteenth | Friday, June 19 | Slides one day |
| Independence Day | Saturday, July 4 | Normal schedule (weekend holiday) |
| Labor Day | Monday, September 7 | Slides one day |
| Thanksgiving Day | Thursday, November 26 | Slides one day |
| Christmas Day | Friday, December 25 | Slides one day |
The holiday list and the weekend rule are as published on indy.gov in October 2026; the dates are the 2026 calendar.
Two holidays are left this year. Thanksgiving Day falls on Thursday, November 26. The City’s Find Your Trash Pickup Day page gives the one-day slide but no day-by-day list for that week, so this is our reading of it: Monday through Wednesday pickups run as usual, Thursday pickups move to Friday and Friday pickups move to Saturday. If your day is Thursday or Friday that week, confirm with your provider at the numbers in the second section. Christmas Day falls on Friday, December 25, so by the same rule Friday pickup moves to Saturday, December 26. New Year’s Day 2027 lands on a Friday as well.
How Should Your Gray Cart Sit at the Curb on Pickup Day?
The City provides each home a free 96-gallon cart, and it stays with the house when you move. On pickup day, the City’s rules on indy.gov say your cart must be:
- holding your trash bagged, inside the cart
- at the curb before 7 a.m.
- two to three feet from the curb, with the cart’s arrows pointing to the street or alley
- at least five feet from all objects and buildings
In practice, that means five feet from the mailbox, a parked car, a utility pole or a fence.
Winter adds a few rules from the same page. Set the cart on the curb in front of large snow piles, clear a four-foot space on each side for the truck and store the cart away from icy patches. The City also asks you to shovel a path from where the cart is stored to your home and the street, and to keep snow and ice cleared off the cart.
Moved in and found no cart, or had yours stolen? The City’s Trash Cart Program page has you file a police report with the Indianapolis Metropolitan Police Department (IMPD) at 317-327-3811 first, then request a replacement from the Mayor’s Action Center with the report number.
What Will Indianapolis Trash Trucks Refuse to Collect From the Cart?
The City’s Trash 101 page lists eight things that cannot go in your trash cart:
- appliances containing Freon or refrigerants
- bulky items that do not fit in the cart
- Christmas trees
- construction waste
- electronics
- household hazardous waste
- loose yard waste, or yard waste that does not fit inside the cart
- tires
Two of them are set by Indiana law, not just the City. Trash 101 explains that the state’s e-waste law bars households from throwing electronics in the trash and that landfills cannot accept whole waste tires, so by law neither can go out through curbside or heavy trash pickup.
For the rest, here is where the City sends you:
- Freon appliances get a separate pickup that Trash 101 has you arrange through the Mayor’s Action Center.
- Household hazardous waste and electronics go to the City’s ToxDrop drop-off events, which are for Marion County residents only.
- Real Christmas trees can go to the City’s tree drop-off program, which Trash 101 says typically runs from Christmas Day through January, with dates that vary each season.
- Bulky items wait for your monthly heavy trash day, covered below.
- Leaves and grass follow their own rules, which we cover in our guide to yard waste disposal in Indianapolis.
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What Should You Do When Trash Pickup Misses Your Street in Indianapolis?
Give it until the next business day. The City’s page for reporting trash pickup issues asks you not to report a missed collection before then, because collectors have until 6 p.m. and its call center closes at 5 p.m.
While you wait, check the cart:
- Was it at the curb before 7 a.m.?
- Was it two to three feet from the curb, arrows toward the street or alley, and at least five feet from objects and buildings?
- Is there a tag on it? Your provider tags a cart that holds items it cannot take, and the tag explains how to meet the rules.
- Is it a holiday week? Your pickup may have slid a day.
If your cart is still full by the next business day and nothing on the list explains it, report it through the City’s RequestIndy portal or call the Mayor’s Action Center, the contact on that report page, at 317-327-4622, then allow three business days for service, as the page asks.
That covers trash. Recycling works differently: the City’s recycling page says a missed curbside recycling pickup must be reported to LRS, not the City, at 317-245-4444.
How Do Indianapolis Households Handle More Trash Than One Cart Holds?
Start with the rule from the cart section: trash goes bagged and inside the cart. The only allowance we found for bags left outside it is on the City’s Trash Cart Program page. After you report a damaged cart, you can set out up to 10 bags of trash on your regular pickup day while you wait for the repair or replacement. Past that, you have four routes.
A second cart. A second City cart costs a one-time $65, as published on indy.gov in October 2026. Order it through the Mayor’s Action Center at 317-327-4622 or through RequestIndy; the Trash Cart Program page says a DPW Solid Waste team member then contacts you within 48 hours to process payment. Two carts is the most a household can have, and the City will not replace a purchased cart that is stolen or damaged.
Heavy trash day. Bulky items go out on your monthly heavy trash day, which the City’s lookup also shows, and our guide to Indianapolis heavy trash pickup covers its limits and refusals.
A drop-off trip. If you would rather haul it yourself, our guide to every Indianapolis dump, landfill and transfer station lists where it can go.
A crew. When the overflow is a garage, a basement or a whole move-out, no cart schedule keeps up, and that is the work our Indianapolis junk removal crews do. We cover the I-65 corridor from Indianapolis to Columbus and Bloomington, and that includes junk removal in Greenwood. The crew arrives in a branded truck and in uniform, sizes up the load on site and gives you the price there. There is no obligation, and you pay when the job is done. We take some of what the cart refuses, too: e-waste and TVs carry a surcharge, and tires and Freon items cost extra. We do not haul paint, chemicals, fuel or oil. In Marion County, those go to ToxDrop.
Quick Recap
- Find your day with the City’s address lookup on indy.gov. Pickup runs five days a week from 7 a.m., and collectors have until 6 p.m.
- Since January 1, 2026, LRS has collected districts 1, 2, 3, 4, 6, 9 and 10, and DPW collects districts 5, 7, 8 and 11.
- Eight listed holidays delay pickup one day, and a holiday that falls on a weekend is not observed. The next two are Thanksgiving Day (Thursday, November 26) and Christmas Day (Friday, December 25).
- On pickup day the cart holds your bagged trash and sits at the curb before 7 a.m., two to three feet from the curb with its arrows toward the street or alley, and at least five feet from objects and buildings.
- The cart cannot take Freon appliances, bulky items that do not fit in the cart, Christmas trees, construction waste, electronics, household hazardous waste, loose yard waste or yard waste that does not fit inside the cart, or tires.
- For a missed pickup, wait until the next business day, report it through RequestIndy or the Mayor’s Action Center (317-327-4622), and allow three business days.
- For more trash than one cart holds, a second cart costs a one-time $65 (as published on indy.gov in October 2026), with two carts at most, bulky items go out on heavy trash day, and bigger loads go to a drop-off or a crew.
