Washington County regulates garbage and recycling collection services within the county’s unincorporated areas. Check if your residential address or business address is located within unincorporated Washington County and confirm which franchised garbage and recycling collection company serves your address. 

Contact us by phone at 503-846-3605 or email recycle@co.washington.or.us for more information.

Rates for customers in unincorporated Washington County 

The Board of County Commissioners approves rates charged by all garbage and recycling collection companies in unincorporated Washington County. Each collection company must charge the board-approved rates in its service area.

Rates for customers within city limits

If you live inside the limits of a city, contact your city’s office for its solid waste collection rates and rules.

Bundled services

• Bundled services means that the costs for each service line, such as garbage, mixed recycling, battery recycling, glass recycling and yard debris/commercial food scraps, are calculated as a package and not separately.

• When community members sign up for garbage services, they also receive mixed recycling, battery recycling and glass recycling. In urban areas the bundle includes yard debris collection for residential customers or food scraps collection for commercial customers.

Residential collection service

Residential can/cart rates vary depending on the size of your garbage cart and whether you live in urban or rural unincorporated Washington County. You can view the complete listing of residential can/cart collection rates and additional services and fees.

Residential service rates

All customers receive:

• One cart for weekly garbage collection

• Up to two 96-gallon mixed recycling carts for every other week recycling collection

• One red bin for every other week glass and battery collection

Urban customers (located within the Metropolitan Service District Boundary) also receive one 60-gallon cart for every other week yard debris collection.

*A $2.00 recycling surcharge will be added to monthly residential collection service rates.

Recycle+

We are excited to offer Recycle+, a new service from your garbage and recycling company. This optional service is available to residential garbage and recycling collection customers living in urban unincorporated Washington County.

Recycle+ charges include a small base fee and a pickup fee for each requested pickup. You can set out your Recycle+ curbside or at another location on your property, such as at your doorstep or porch (additional fees apply). 

Tip: Curbside is defined as within five feet of a public or private road. 

• Base charge (billed monthly): $2.50 
• Curbside pickup (each):$9.25 
• Non-curbside pickup 5-150 feet (each): $11.70 
• Non-curbside pickup over 150 feet (each): $13.02 

Pickup service for customers with a disability

If you qualify as a person with a disability as identified by Oregon state law ORS 801.387, you can request non-curbside pickup at no extra charge if you do not share a household with an individual who can place your containers curbside. Contact your garbage and recycling collection company for more information.

What makes up my collection rate?

There are seven significant components of the residential collection service rate, including:

• Salaries and benefits of collection company employees, including insurance, payroll and medical expenses
• Disposal and processing costs for materials collected
• General and administrative collection company costs, including utilities and allocation of support staff salaries
• Vehicle, equipment and yard costs to cover maintenance, purchases and building leases
• Franchised hauler profit
• Franchise fees paid to the County 
• Fuel for operating trucks and equipment

The example below highlights the various components and the portion of the overall rate for each component for a standard 32-gallon urban residential collection rate.

Garbage and recycling collection rate changes may result from the County’s annual rate review process. The yearly assessment analyzes a variety of factors, which are known and measurable, including all garbage and recycling collection company costs and revenues.

Additional information regarding collection service rates:

• Collection rate FAQ – Frequently asked questions for collection services rates
• Solid waste collection rate review process – Overview of the process for conducting the annual rate review 

Commercial and medical collection services

Three factors will impact your commercial and medical collection service rates:

• The size of your cart/bin
• How often your cart/bin is picked up
• Whether you are in urban or rural unincorporated Washington County

You can view the complete listing of commercial collection rates and additional services and fees.

Manage waste differently to save money

Businesses can control costs by ensuring they have the right-sized waste containers and adjusting pickup frequencies to best suit operational needs. 

The Washington County Green Business team can assist with recommendations on finding the right size services and offers educational information and materials to support your business’ garbage, recycling and food scraps collection programs.

• 1- to 2-yard dumpster (up to 400 lbs): Ideal for small restaurants and companies with up to 25 employees
• 3-yard dumpster (up to 600 lbs): Good for businesses with up to 50 employees
• 4-yard dumpster (up to 800 lbs): Works for midsize restaurants and businesses with up to 100 employees
• 5-6-yard dumpster (up to 1,200 lbs): Best for mid to large businesses with up to 200 employees
• 8-yard dumpster (up to 1,800 lbs): Works for large businesses with up to 500 employees

Business medical waste

• Schedule your business' medical waste collection through your garbage and recycling collection company.
• Medical waste collection services are often subcontracted to a specialty third-party collection company; Washington County sets and approves the rates for the county's unincorporated areas.
• View current list of approved medical collection rates.

Drop box, compactor and occasional container collection service

• Residential and commercial customers in unincorporated Washington County can request a drop box, compactor or occasional container service to manage larger volumes of waste. 
• View drop box, compactor and occasional collection service fees (rates) that apply to these service lines and rate details.
• Disposal fees for these service lines are not set by the County or garbage and recycling collection companies but by the receiving facility and then billed as a pass-through charge to the customer. 
• Customers may request materials be delivered to any permitted facility at the established “per mile” rate. 
• Customers should contact their garbage and recycling collection company directly to request service and receive a detailed estimate of costs.
• The collection company can assist with container selection based on the volume and types of accepted materials that require disposal. 

Note: Dropbox sizes are approximate

Asbestos waste disposal

• Construction and demolition materials are at risk of containing asbestos.

• Before disposal, your garbage and recycling collection company will request confirmation on whether the waste materials may contain asbestos. 

• Oregon DEQ regulates the handling, removal and disposal of asbestos-containing material

• View additional information and resources DEQ offers to guide home and business owners through the proper disposal channels.

The County and garbage and recycling collection companies will take all reasonable steps to ensure language translation services are available at no cost to any community member seeking assistance.