Foggy Bottom Association

Proper dis­posal of trash and recy­cling is key to a clean, safe, and pleas­ant neigh­bor­hood. That almost goes with­out saying.

But in Wash­ing­ton, DC, things can be com­pli­cated. Even long­time res­i­dents get con­fused about trash and recy­cling. So let’s take a few min­utes to review the rules and reg­u­la­tions gov­ern­ing solid waste col­lec­tion in the Dis­trict – at least as they apply in Foggy Bottom.

Trash

The Dis­trict col­lects trash from houses and small multi-family build­ings (four or fewer units) twice each week, usu­ally on Tues­day and Fri­day morn­ings. (Res­i­dents of larger multi-family or com­mer­cial build­ings should con­tact their build­ings for trash col­lec­tion require­ments and sched­ules.) Trash should be placed in sturdy cans – with secure lids — at the curb between 6:30 pm the night before col­lec­tion, and 6:00 am that morn­ing. It is impor­tant to place trash in cans because of the many rats with which we share our neigh­bor­hood; given half a chance, a rat will chew through even a heavy-duty trash bag to reach the good­ies inside.

The DC Depart­ment of Pub­lic Works will bring you a 32-gallon trash can for $45. Make a check payable to the DC Trea­surer, and send it to 2750 South Capi­tol Street, SE, Wash­ing­ton, DC 20032. You may also pro­vide your own trash can. Be sure to put your address on the can and the lid to ensure your can comes back to your address.

Recy­cling

The Dis­trict offers “sin­gle stream” recy­cling, which means that all of your recy­clable items can be placed in one can. DC col­lects and recy­cles most paper, plas­tic, cans, and glass. DC does not recy­cle Sty­ro­foam, “clamshell” pack­ag­ing used for food, metal­lic papers, peanuts (foam pack­ag­ing), or pizza boxes.

Recy­cling is col­lected in Foggy Bot­tom on Fri­day morn­ings. Place your recy­clable items in the proper con­tainer and place them at the curb between 6:30 pm the night before col­lec­tion, and 6:00 am that morning.

DC DPW pro­vides 32-gallon recy­cling con­tain­ers for $45. Make a check payable to the DC Trea­surer, and send it to 2750 South Capi­tol Street, SE, Wash­ing­ton, DC 20032. You can also pro­vide your own recy­cling con­tainer; just be sure it is blue to avoid con­fu­sion with trash containers.

The “Slide”

Back in the day, DC was famous for, among other things, a dance called the Elec­tric Slide. We’re not talk­ing about the dance here. We’re refer­ring to what hap­pens to the trash and recy­cling col­lec­tion sched­ules when there is a Dis­trict holiday.

When a Dis­trict hol­i­day occurs, all trash and recy­cling col­lec­tion “slides” one day for the rest of that week. In Foggy Bot­tom, that means trash col­lec­tion will “slide” to Wednes­day and Sat­ur­day morn­ings, and recy­cling col­lec­tion will “slide” to Saturday.

Bulk Trash

Say you have a really big item you’d like to dis­card. Please do not put it out with your reg­u­lar trash. DPW’s trucks are sched­uled in such a way that they fill up on their reg­u­lar routes, leav­ing no room for unex­pected large items. The Dis­trict will col­lect large items, how­ever, if you sched­ule them in advance.

To sched­ule a bulk trash pickup, call 311 (from a phone with a 202 area code) or visit 311.dc.gov and fol­low the instruc­tions. The evening before your sched­uled pickup, place the items on the curb where you place your reg­u­lar trash. Accept­able items for bulk trash col­lec­tion include air con­di­tion­ers (drain water and flu­ids), hot water heaters, house­hold fur­ni­ture, large toys (kid­die pools, play­houses, dis­as­sem­bled swing sets), major appli­ances, e.g., refrig­er­a­tors (doors removed), mat­tresses and box springs (MUST be wrapped in plas­tic), bed frames, and rugs (MUST be rolled and tied).

Haz­ardous Waste

Haz­ardous waste includes the fol­low­ing: acids; aerosols; antifreeze; asbestos tile; bat­ter­ies; clean­ing chem­i­cals; drain open­ers; flu­o­res­cent light bulbs; fur­ni­ture strip­per; stains; var­nish; fer­til­izer; lighter fluid; mer­cury ther­mome­ters and mercury-containing devices; moth balls; motor oil; paint; pes­ti­cides and poi­sons; roof­ing tar; sol­vents and thin­ners; trans­mis­sion flu­ids; wind­shield wiper and brake flu­ids; and wood preservatives.

Please do not place haz­ardous waste at the curb. You will need to take haz­ardous waste to the Fort Tot­ten Trans­fer Sta­tion the first Sat­ur­day of the month between 8:00 am and 3:00 pm, except hol­i­days. An addi­tional house­hold haz­ardous waste drop-off occurs the Thurs­day pre­ced­ing the first Sat­ur­day of the month (except hol­i­days), between 1:00 pm and 5:00 pm. The Fort Tot­ten Trans­fer Sta­tion is located at 4900 John F. McCor­mack Drive, NE.

If you have ques­tions, please reach out to the DC Depart­ment of Pub­lic Works. Call them Mon­day through Fri­day between 8:15 am and 4:45 pm at (202) 673‑6833 or visit dpw.dc.gov