SANTA FE, July 6 – The City of Santa Fe Environmental Services Division (ESD) is implementing changes to residential trash and recycling collection schedules beginning the week of August 15, 2022. Residential collections will move to a four-day schedule, Monday through Thursday. Almost all residents in the Friday collection zone will move to Thursday, and most other residential customers will also see a change to their collection day. Download the new collection map here or visit the interactive map online to search for a specific residential address.

Commercial collection schedules will not be affected. The changes are a component of a multi-year route optimization project that ESD has worked on with its technology partner Rubicon to balance the number of homes on each collection route and make the routes more efficient by reducing the miles traveled over the course of the week. 

"The city of Santa Fe is growing and changing, and these new routes utilize smart technology to adapt to those changes and make our operations more efficient," said ESD Director Shirlene Sitton. "The optimized routes and collection schedule help move us toward our sustainability goals, accommodate future growth in the city, and demonstrate ESD’s commitment not only to providing the best possible service for residential customers, but also to supporting and investing in the critical staff who make such services possible.”

ESD’s residential collection work shifts will move from five 8-hour shifts to four 10-hour shifts, Monday through Thursday, allowing for the same forty hours to complete collections during the week. ESD Operators will no longer collect residential trash and recycling on City-observed holidays after August 15. When a holiday occurs, there will be no residential collection on that day and that day’s collection will move to the next consecutive day of the week. Depending on what day the holiday falls on, the remaining collection days move forward as well. Commercial services will continue as scheduled. 

Holiday Example 1: Labor Day will be observed on Monday, September 5. Monday’s collection will move to Tuesday, Tuesday’s will move to Wednesday, Wednesday’s will move to Thursday, and ESD Operators will work on Friday of that week to collect the Thursday routes.

Holiday Example 2: Thanksgiving Day will be observed Thursday, November 24. ESD Operators will work on Friday to collect Thursday’s routes; no other routes that week will be affected.

Residential customers will be notified of the upcoming route changes in their July utility bills. The City of Santa Fe will include reminders about holiday trash and recycling collection changes in holiday closures announcement emails, and residents can also download the free Recycle Coach app to view their collection schedule and receive push-notification reminders about upcoming changes. 

"Making this schedule change is a significant investment in our essential staff and may also offer us an advantage in a competitive market for professional CDL (commercial driver’s license) drivers, allowing us to both retain and attract employees and ensure we are fully staffed to deliver safe and efficient collection services,” Sitton added. “Our residential Operators are looking forward to being able to spend holidays with family and friends.”

For more information, please visit santafenm.gov/daychange.