Hillsboro is Washington County’s largest city and one of the fastest-growing communities in Oregon home to Intel’s massive Ronler Acres campus and a significant biotech and semiconductor presence that has driven substantial residential and commercial growth. As the city has expanded, the infrastructure supporting daily life including Garbage collection Service Hillsboro has had to evolve and scale to meet the demands of a growing, diverse population. Understanding how garbage collection service works in Hillsboro helps residents navigate the system effectively, reduce their waste footprint, and know when supplemental services are needed for materials that fall outside the standard curbside program.
How Hillsboro’s Garbage Collection System Is Organized
Garbage and recycling services in Hillsboro are provided through a franchise hauler system established under Hillsboro Municipal Code section 6.08. The city has issued franchise agreements to six private waste collection companies that serve different geographic sections of Hillsboro. Property owners and residents do not select their hauler the hauler assigned to each address is determined by the city’s franchise zones. The franchise system exists to ensure that all Hillsboro residents and businesses are charged the same regulated rates for services, regardless of where they live or work within the city.
The six franchised haulers serving Hillsboro include Hillsboro Garbage, Waste Management, Evergreen Disposal, Pride Disposal, Garbarino Disposal, and Walker Garbage Service. Each operates within its designated franchise area and maintains a customer service operation for billing inquiries, service changes, missed pickup reports, and bulky item scheduling. To find out which hauler serves a specific Hillsboro address, residents can use Washington County’s Garbage and Recycling Day tool online or the free Garbage and Recycling Day mobile app.
Hillsboro’s garbage collection service is bundled meaning that customers pay a single monthly or quarterly rate that covers garbage, recycling, yard debris with food scraps, and glass collection together. The amount the customer pays is influenced primarily by the size of their garbage cart (which determines how much residual waste they generate), not by the frequency or volume of recycling and compost use. This bundled structure incentivizes waste diversion: the more you recycle and compost, the less you need to put in the garbage cart, and the smaller and less expensive cart size you can choose.
What the Curbside Collection Service Includes
Standard residential garbage collection service in Hillsboro includes four distinct collection streams, each with its own container and schedule.
Garbage is collected weekly on your designated collection day. Customers choose their cart size 20, 35, 60, or 90 gallons based on their typical weekly generation of residual waste. Carts must be placed at the curb with the lid opening facing the street, spaced at least 3 feet from other carts and obstacles, and set out by 6 a.m. on collection day. Occasionally, customers generate more waste than their cart holds Hillsboro’s franchise haulers will collect up to two extra bags placed securely beside the cart on regular pickup day at no additional charge.
Mixed recycling is collected every other week. Hillsboro’s recycling program accepts paper, cardboard (broken down flat), plastic bottles and containers, metal cans, and glass in the same blue recycling cart. Glass can also be placed in a separate glass/battery container for collection on a different schedule depending on the hauler. Items should be clean, dry, and empty, and should be placed loosely in the cart without bags. Plastic bags must never go in the recycling cart they jam sorting equipment at materials recovery facilities and should instead be taken to participating grocery store drop-off locations.
Yard debris and food scraps collection occurs every other week for most Hillsboro residential addresses, with the material collected and transported to a composting facility in North Plains. Hillsboro’s composting program is comprehensive: the green cart accepts not only yard debris (grass clippings, leaves, branches, garden waste) but also food scraps including meat, dairy, prepared foods, and soiled paper products. This combined acceptance makes it easy for Hillsboro households to divert a substantial fraction of their waste from the landfill. The City of Hillsboro also requires food businesses generating 250 pounds or more of food waste per week to separate food scraps for collection.
Glass recycling is collected on a separate schedule in Hillsboro. Glass can be placed in a dedicated glass/battery collection container for separate collection, or placed in the blue mixed recycling cart at some haulers. Check with your specific franchise hauler for their glass collection approach, as it varies across the six franchised companies.
Business Recycling Requirements in Hillsboro
Hillsboro businesses are subject to the City’s Business Recycling Requirements (BRR) ordinance, enacted by the Hillsboro City Council in 2009. This ordinance requires that all businesses within Hillsboro: recycle all paper, cardboard, and containers (aluminum cans, plastic bottles and tubs, and glass bottles and jars); provide internal recycling receptacles throughout the workplace; and post signs at collection areas indicating which materials must be recycled. Compliance with the BRR is linked to the City business license when a business signs its business license or renewal, it agrees to comply with these requirements.
The City provides technical assistance and free supplies bins, signs, and posters to help Hillsboro businesses comply with the BRR. Washington County’s Solid Waste and Recycling program also offers business assistance to help commercial entities in Hillsboro maximize their waste diversion.
Materials That Cannot Go in Standard Curbside Bins
Even within Hillsboro’s comprehensive four-stream collection system, a number of material categories require disposal pathways outside the standard curbside service. Understanding these exclusions helps Hillsboro residents avoid contamination of the recycling and compost streams and ensures that regulated materials are handled appropriately.
Hazardous household materials paint, pesticides, solvents, motor oil, batteries, fluorescent bulbs, and similar substances cannot go in any curbside bin. Metro operates household hazardous waste collection facilities serving the greater Portland area, including the Tualatin Valley Waste Recovery Facility at the Hillsboro Landfill on SE Minter Bridge Road. Metro’s hotline at (503) 234-3000 provides information on disposal options for specific hazardous materials.
Electronics computers, televisions, monitors, printers, and other covered electronic devices must be recycled through Oregon’s E-Cycles program, which provides free drop-off recycling for covered electronics at designated locations throughout Washington County. Oregon law prohibits disposing of covered electronics in regular garbage or recycling.
Bulky items furniture, mattresses, large appliances, and oversized materials cannot be placed in standard curbside carts. Hillsboro’s franchise haulers offer bulky item pickup services by appointment, typically for an additional fee. Residents can also self-haul to Washington County transfer stations. For residents who prefer not to handle large item transport themselves, private junk removal services provide full-service pickup and proper disposal of bulky items and accumulated junk from anywhere on the property.
Construction and demolition debris from home improvement projects lumber, drywall, concrete, flooring, tile, and similar materials is not accepted in residential curbside carts. These materials require either a roll-off container for larger projects, drop-off at a Washington County transfer station, or engagement of a debris removal service. The Hillsboro Recycling Center operated by Pride Disposal offers drop-off recycling of a broad range of materials including paper, cardboard, plastics, metals, electronics, and styrofoam, with no charge to drop off most items when properly separated.
The Role of Private Junk Removal Services in Hillsboro
Hillsboro’s franchise garbage collection system provides excellent service for the routine, ongoing generation of household and business waste through its scheduled multi-stream collection program. What the franchise system is not designed to accommodate is the irregular, large-volume, or specialized removal needs that arise in everyday life moving out of a home and clearing accumulated belongings, cleaning out an estate, managing renovation debris, or clearing a property of furniture and appliances that don’t fit in standard carts.
Private junk removal and debris services fill this gap, complementing the franchise system by handling the categories and volumes that curbside service is not designed for. A full-service junk removal company in Hillsboro comes to the property, physically removes items from wherever they are located garage, attic, basement, backyard, storage shed and transports them to appropriate disposal, recycling, or donation facilities. This on-demand, full-service model addresses what the scheduled, container-based franchise service cannot.
Frequently Asked Questions About Garbage Collection in Hillsboro
How do I find out which garbage company serves my Hillsboro address? Use Washington County’s Garbage and Recycling Day tool at washingtoncountyor.gov/swr, enter your address, and the tool will identify your assigned franchise hauler and collection schedule. The free Garbage and Recycling Day mobile app provides the same functionality with schedule reminders.
Can I switch garbage haulers if I prefer a different company in Hillsboro? No. The franchise system assigns haulers by geographic zone to ensure consistent rates and service standards across the city. Residents and businesses in each zone are served by the assigned hauler and cannot select a different franchise company.
What happens if my garbage or recycling is missed? Contact your franchise hauler directly as soon as possible. If the missed pickup was due to the hauler’s error, they will typically return for collection either the next day or the next collection day at no charge. If the cart was not set out by 6 a.m. or otherwise did not meet placement requirements, a charge for a return pickup may apply.
What can I do with items that are too big for my curbside cart? Options include scheduling a bulky item pickup with your franchise hauler, self-hauling to the Hillsboro Landfill or another Washington County transfer station, or engaging a private junk removal service. Private junk removal is most convenient for residents who cannot transport items themselves or who have large quantities of material to remove at once.
