Verified disposal rules for St Paul residents — Minnesota's capital city (~310,000 people across 12 ZIPs). St Paul contracts haulers for residential garbage and runs city-wide recycling + organics through Eureka Recycling. Full HHW lives at Ramsey County's drop-off facilities. ClearPath sources from stpaul.gov + ramseycounty.us + MPCA, with citations on every answer.
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St Paul partners with Eureka Recycling (a local nonprofit) for citywide single-stream recycling. Paper, cardboard, metal cans, glass bottles, and rigid plastics #1, #2, #5 all in the same blue cart. Plastic bags + film are NOT accepted curbside — return to grocery-store drop bins. Eureka publishes a sort guide at eurekarecycling.org.
St Paul launched citywide curbside organics in 2019 and now offers it free to every household. Sign up at stpaul.gov; the city delivers a green cart that gets collected weekly. Accepts food scraps (meat, dairy, bones), paper food packaging, BPI-certified compostables. Yard waste runs separately via your hauler April through November.
Mattresses, furniture, appliances, and other bulky items go through scheduled bulk pickup with your assigned hauler. Each household gets two free annual bulk-pickup vouchers; beyond that, fees range $25-50 per item depending on hauler. Schedule directly with your hauler (visible in your stpaul.gov account).
St Paul is in Ramsey County, so HHW (paint, motor oil, antifreeze, fluorescent bulbs, lithium-ion batteries, propane tanks, pesticides) goes to Ramsey County HHW: the Bay West facility (5 Empire Dr, St Paul) and the County Recycling Center in Maplewood. Free for Ramsey County residents — bring photo ID.
Yard waste collection (leaves, grass, brush) runs April through November weekly via your assigned hauler. Use compostable paper yard-waste bags or a labeled cart — plastic bags are NOT accepted. Brush must be tied in bundles under 4 ft. Off-season, drop yard waste at Ramsey County compost sites year-round.
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Check an item in St Paul →Most disposal rules in St Paul are set at the county level by Ramsey County. The St Paul city policies above layer on top of that — for the full rule text, HHW facility list, and county-wide programs, see:
Ramsey County disposal guide →St Paul uses an organized collection system where the city assigns one of several haulers (Republic, Waste Management, Aspen, FCC, Highland Sanitation) to each residence. Look up your assigned hauler and pickup day at stpaul.gov/services/garbage-recycling.
Easiest: schedule a bulk pickup with your assigned hauler — use one of your two free annual vouchers. Other options: Ramsey County HHW at Bay West (5 Empire Dr, St Paul) accepts mattresses for a $25 fee, or Goodwill / Salvation Army accept usable stain-free mattresses for free.
No — plastic bags jam the sorting equipment at Eureka Recycling's MRF. Return them to grocery-store plastic-bag drop bins (Cub Foods, Target, Lunds & Byerlys all participate). Same applies to plastic film, dry-cleaning bags, and bubble wrap.
Free at Ramsey County HHW (Bay West facility on Empire Dr, or the Maplewood Recycling Center). Free at PaintCare drop-off sites at most local paint retailers (Hirshfield's, Sherwin-Williams) — paintcare.org/find-a-drop-off-site lists MN locations.
Free to every St Paul household. Sign up at stpaul.gov/services/garbage-recycling — the city delivers a green cart in 1-2 weeks. Weekly pickup, accepts food scraps including meat + dairy + bones, paper food containers, and BPI-certified compostables.
Yes — free curbside Christmas tree pickup runs the first three weeks of January via your assigned hauler. Remove all decorations, lights, stand, and tree skirt. Flocked trees (sprayed snow) cannot be composted — they go in trash. Trees after the pickup window can be dropped at Ramsey County compost sites year-round.
