As the year rolls out and revelers ready themselves to usher in the new, the City of Tampa reminds residents of its adjustments to sanitation services during the New Year holiday. All city offices will be shut tight on Thursday, in respect for the occasion, and garbage collection services will follow suit, pausing for a day to observe the turning of the year.
Tampa residents who typically wheel their garbage out to the curb will need to hold their waste for a day longer. The city's announcement detailed that residential collection won’t be happening on New Year’s Day, but instead, normal services will pick up again on Friday. For commercial entities, with 65- or 95-gallon carts, the wait is just as long, and they should expect to follow the residential schedule for this period.
Those whose business is trash, namely the commercial services, will experience a slight delay, with collections resuming on Friday and running a day behind until next Saturday. The McKay Bay Transfer Station and Scale House, the bastion for disposal and weighing of Tampa's refuse, will shut its doors early at noon on New Year's Eve and won’t be processing any waste on the first day of 2026.
Residents looking to dispose of their Christmas trees can breathe easy knowing that the Solid Waste Department will be offering curbside collection at no additional charge starting Friday. To ensure the evergreens are taken away, the city instructs, "Remove all decorations and lights from the tree, cut tree limbs to four-foot lengths, bundle limbs and place curbside on your regularly scheduled yard waste collection day."
The City’s Utilities Call Center is on standby for residents with lingering questions at (813) 274-8811. Meanwhile, residents in New Tampa are directed to reach out to Hillsborough County Solid Waste Management, by calling (813) 272-5680, to confirm their holiday collection schedule.
