If you searched for garbage service in Aurora, here is the direct answer. Residential collection runs through the City of Aurora's contract with Groot, and it works on carts plus stickers rather than a free bulk allowance. Your cart goes out weekly. Anything that does not fit inside it needs a sticker on it, including furniture and bundled debris. Appliances have to be scheduled. Below is what the city takes, what it refuses, and where the rest goes.
Who Picks Up Garbage in Aurora
Residential refuse, recycling and yard waste in Aurora run through the city's contract with Groot, and Groot bills residents directly on a quarterly cycle. Groot works the route. The city sets the program. ONIT Junk Removal is not your garbage service and cannot add you to that route, so if that is what brought you here, this page is the part you actually needed.
Questions about a missed pickup, an appliance, a cart size or a special pickup go to Groot at 630-892-9294. Questions about the program itself go to the city at 311, or 630-256-4636 from outside the city. What we handle is the material that falls outside these rules, and the rest of this page shows where that line sits.
Four Counties, One Set of City Rules
Aurora stretches across Kane, DuPage, Kendall and Will counties, and residents reasonably assume the rules shift depending on which county they live in. They do not. The city publishes one set of sanitation rules for the whole city and divides Aurora into five collection sections. Those sections set which day your truck comes, not which rules apply to you.
County lines start to matter only after material leaves your curb, because county recycling and hazardous waste programs run separately from city collection. The other thing that matters more than county is whether your address is actually inside the city. Unincorporated Aurora addresses exist in all four counties, and they are not on the city program. If that is your situation, you arrange service directly with the hauler rather than through the city.
Carts, Extra Bags and Stickers
Aurora runs a volume-based cart program, and residents are required to use a properly sized cart from the authorized hauler. Trash carts have wheels and lids and come in three sizes, so a household that fills a cart every week and a household that barely covers the bottom are not paying the same way. Recycling carts come in 35 gallon and 65 gallon sizes, and recycling itself is unlimited. Extra recyclables go out beside the cart in containers up to 25 gallons.
Garbage is where the stickers start. Additional cans or bags beyond your cart can go to the curb, but each one needs a sticker. Stickers sell at most area grocery and hardware stores, at Groot and at City Hall. The city also runs a separate bag program for seniors, and the city can tell you whether your household qualifies.
Bulk Items and Furniture Need a Sticker Each
This is the rule most worth understanding, and it is where Aurora differs from several towns nearby. Aurora does not include a set number of free bulk items per week. Individual oversized items such as chairs, tables and mattresses go out on your regular collection day with one sticker on each item.
Run that against a real situation and the math gets clear fast. A bedroom set that comes apart into a frame, a mattress, a box spring and a dresser is four stickers, not one pickup. A finished basement emptied of a sectional, a bar, two stools and a rug is more than that. The system is built to move one or two pieces at a time, and it does that part well.
Appliances Have to Be Scheduled Ahead of the Truck
Refrigerators, stoves, water heaters and similar appliances require advance scheduling in Aurora, and each one still needs a sticker. Call Groot at 630-892-9294 to get the appliance on the route. An appliance that appears at the curb without that call generally stays at the curb, because the truck that handles appliances is not always the truck that runs your street.
Appliances also sit on the Illinois landfill ban list, which is the underlying reason they cannot ride inside a cart. Anything holding refrigerant needs that refrigerant recovered by a certified technician before the unit gets scrapped, and that step happens at the disposal end rather than in your driveway.
Remodeling Debris Has to Be Cut and Bundled to Size
Aurora does take limited amounts of construction debris and rolls of carpeting at the curb, and the limits are dimensional rather than vague. Material that will not fit in a cart has to be securely tied into bundles that do not exceed two feet in diameter, four feet in length and fifty pounds in weight. Each bundle needs its own sticker.
Hold that against an actual tear-out. A single bathroom produces more than a couple of bundles once the vanity, the tile and the surround come out, and a kitchen produces several times that. The rule fits a repair. It does not fit a renovation. For larger quantities of refuse or yard waste, the city points residents to special pickups and temporary containers, which Groot arranges with at least 24 hours of notice at 630-892-9294.
Yard Waste, Brush and the Free Leaf Window
Aurora collects yard waste from the first Monday in April through the first Friday in December. It goes out in a 30 gallon Kraft paper yard waste bag that does not exceed fifty pounds, with a sticker attached. Plastic bags and trash cans are not accepted for yard waste at all, which trips up more residents than any other part of the program.
Bundled brush runs on a shorter calendar, from the first Monday in April through the first Friday in November. Branches need to measure a half inch to four inches in diameter and two to four feet in length, bundled, under fifty pounds. Anything thinner than a half inch counts as yard waste rather than brush, so it goes in a bag. Aurora also runs a fall leaf collection window where leaves go out with no sticker required and at no charge, and it collects Christmas trees in early January, undecorated and out of the stand. All of these dates shift year to year, so confirm the current schedule with the city before you stack anything.
What the Truck Will Not Take, and Where It Goes Instead
Some material is banned from curbside collection outright. The city names automotive fluids, cleaning solvents, fertilizers, flammable materials, motor oil, oil-based paint and pesticides as items that cannot be set out. Electronics have been banned from Illinois landfills since 2012, so televisions, monitors and computers cannot go in a cart either. Illinois law also keeps grass, leaves, garden waste and branches out of the landfill stream, which is why yard waste runs as its own collection.
- Electronics. Aurora runs electronics recycling drive-thru events at the Metra Route 59 station at 1090 N. Illinois Route 59. Those events require registration in advance and are open to Aurora residents only. Call 630-256-4636 to find out when the next one runs, because the dates change every year.
- Household hazardous waste. The nearest permanent facility is at 156 Fort Hill Drive in Naperville, open Saturdays and Sundays from 9 a.m. to 2 p.m. It accepts household material from any Illinois resident at no charge, which includes Aurora residents in all four counties. It takes oil-based paint and stain, solvents, automotive fluids, pesticides, pool chemicals, aerosols, batteries, fluorescent bulbs and fire extinguishers.
- Latex paint. Latex is not hazardous and the facility will send it home with you. Dry it out by pulling the lid off or stirring in cat litter or sawdust, then set the can out with the lid off so the driver can see the paint has gone solid.
We do not take the hazardous side of that list either. Paint, stain, solvents, chemicals, pesticides, pool chemicals, propane, gasoline, motor oil, aerosols, ammunition, asbestos, biohazard and medical waste are not material any junk hauler should offer to put on a trailer.
Common Questions
Does Aurora pick up bulk items at the curb?
Aurora collects oversized items on your regular day, but each one needs a sticker on it. A chair, a table or a mattress takes one sticker apiece. The city does not include a free bulk allowance the way some neighboring towns do, so three pieces of furniture means three stickers. Stickers sell at area grocery and hardware stores, at Groot and at City Hall.
Will Aurora take my old refrigerator or water heater?
Yes, with a phone call first. Aurora requires advance scheduling for refrigerators, stoves, water heaters and similar appliances, and each one needs a sticker. Call Groot at 630-892-9294 to get it on the route. An appliance set out without that call generally stays in your driveway, because the regular truck is not the one that handles it.
Can I put remodeling debris in my Aurora garbage?
Limited amounts go at the curb in Aurora if you cut and tie them to size. Bundles cannot exceed two feet in diameter, four feet in length or fifty pounds, and each bundle carries its own sticker. Rolled carpet follows the same dimensions. A bathroom tear-out produces more bundles than most people want to tie, and a kitchen produces several times that.
Where do Aurora residents take televisions and electronics?
Electronics are banned from Illinois landfills, so they cannot ride in your Aurora cart. The city runs electronics recycling drive-thru events at the Route 59 Metra station, and those require registration ahead of time and are open to Aurora residents only. Call the city at 630-256-4636 to ask when the next one runs, because the dates move each year.
Do I need a sticker for yard waste in Aurora?
Yes for most of the season. Aurora yard waste goes out in a thirty gallon Kraft paper bag under fifty pounds with a sticker on it, and plastic bags and trash cans are not accepted. Branches run half an inch to four inches thick and two to four feet long, bundled. Aurora drops the sticker requirement during its fall leaf collection window, so check the current dates.
City service in Aurora handles a household's weekly output, and the sticker system works fine for a chair or a bagged cart overflow. It stops working when the volume arrives all at once. A basement that has been filling since the kids were in grade school, a kitchen tear-out, an estate that has to be emptied before a closing, or a garage where everything needs to leave on the same afternoon all sit outside what a weekly route will carry. That is the work ONIT Junk Removal does. Call or text (815) 240-0735 with a photo and your Aurora address, and you get the number before anything goes on the trailer. Our crew carries it out, sorts it for donation and recycling wherever there is an outlet, and sweeps up before we leave. We are insured, and we run Aurora out of Plainfield.
← Back to all articles