Waste & Recycling

The City of St. Joseph provides weekly rubbish collection by contracting services with Best Way Disposal along with bi-weekly curbside recycling.

Best Way Disposal
Phone: 269-463-3232

Residential Rubbish is collected weekly under a City contract by Best Way Disposal. Best Way provides large gray two-wheeled carts for weekly collection. Place the cart at the curbside not earlier than 5pm the night before collection and please bring the cart in by 11am the morning following collection. If you need the removal of oversized items that cannot be collected with regular rubbish collection, please view our page about special pick-ups. All rubbish should be in a sealed bag or containter.

About Your Bin

To prepare materials to place in your bin, please follow the Curbside Recycling Guide, located below. Paper grocery sacks may be helpful and can be used if you wish. Please be sure tin cans are not hidden in between the newspapers. We recommend newspapers on the bottom and plastic, tin and glass on top to sheild the papers. Even if some of the papers get wet, they can still be recycled.

Collection Schedule

Your recycling day is every other week on the same day as your trash day. Place your bin by 7am at the curb on one side of your driveway. Place your garbage can on the other side of your driveway. This will ensure that recyclables are not confused with the garbage.

If a holiday falls on your collection day, your items will be picked up on the following day. The following holidays will be observed:

  • New Year's Day
  • Memorial Day
  • 4th of July
  • Labor Day
  • Thanksgiving Day
  • Christmas Day


Curbside Recycling Guide

NEWSPAPER
YES NO HOW
Newspapers including inserts
-Phone Books
-Food Boxes
-Paper Bags
-Magazines
-Catalogs
-Copy Paper
-Corrugated Cardboard
-Junk Mail		   Lay on bottom of recycling bin, or place in grocery sack in recycling bin. -Cardboard must be no larger than 2'x2' and broken down -Keep newspaper separate from other paper
GLASS
YES NO HOW
- Clear, Green and Brown Jars & Bottles - Dishes
- Windows
- Light Bulbs		 - Rinse
- Remove lid or ring
- Labels may stay
- Place in bin
PLASTIC & FOAM POLYSTYRENE
YES NO HOW
- Plastic Containers with 1-5 & 7 inside recycle symbol - Commingled Containers such as Aseptic Packaging & Gable Top Containers (milk and juice cartons) - Plastic without  recycle symbol
- Plastic Grocery Bags
- Packing Pellets
-Foam Polystyrene		 - Rinse
- Remove Cap
- Labels may stay
- Crush
- Place in bin
METAL & ALUMINUM
YES NO HOW
- Food Cans
- Foil
- Pie Tins
- Lids from jars		 - Paint Cans
- Aerosol Cans		 - Rinse
- Remove Labels
- Flatten (if possible)
- Place in bin
NOTE: Any items not listed above or not properly prepared will be left in your recycling bin.

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