If you searched for a trash hauler in Naperville, you were probably looking for your city garbage service, so here is the straight answer first. Residential collection in Naperville runs through the city's contract with Groot Industries, and it covers more than most residents realize. It also stops at some firm limits. Below is what the city takes at the curb, what it will not take, and where the rest has to go.
Who Actually Picks Up Garbage in Naperville
Residential garbage, recycling and yard waste in Naperville run through a contract between the City of Naperville and Groot Industries. Groot works the weekly route. The city handles the carts and the billing. Onit Junk Removal is not your garbage service and cannot add you to that route, so if that is what brought you here, this section is the part you needed.
Questions about your weekly pickup, a missed collection, or scheduling a special pickup go to Groot at (630) 892-9294 during business hours. Questions about carts go to the city at (630) 420-6095. What we handle is the material that falls outside those rules, and the rest of this page is where that line sits.
Carts, Weight Limits and the Two Bulk Items a Week Rule
Naperville carts come from the city in 35, 68 and 95 gallon sizes, and a city cart is limited to 220 pounds. If you use your own container instead, the limit is a 32 gallon can at 60 pounds, which is a weight one driver can handle alone. Carts have to be purchased through the city rather than picked up at a store. That weight limit does more work than people expect, and it is the reason a cart half full of tile or dirt gets left behind while a cart packed to the lid with cardboard goes.
Then comes the rule most worth knowing. Two bulk items a week come with Naperville residential service at no additional cost. A bulk item means something that will not fit in a proper container and that one driver can lift without help, such as furniture, barrels and crates. Two things sit outside that allowance. Appliances have their own slot. Oversized and overweight items, which the city describes as things like pianos and hot tubs or anything requiring two or more people to lift, need a special pickup scheduled with Groot and carry an additional charge. So a dresser and a recliner in the same week are covered. A hot tub is a special pickup with a charge attached.
Appliances Get Their Own Slot, and It Has to Be Scheduled
Naperville includes one appliance a week at no additional charge, and the list the city publishes covers freezers, air conditioners, washers, dryers, dishwashers, hot water tanks and dehumidifiers. The catch is that it has to be scheduled in advance rather than set at the curb like a chair, and an unscheduled appliance generally stays where you put it.
Appliances also sit on the landfill ban list, which is why they cannot ride along inside a cart or count as one of your two bulk items. Anything holding refrigerant has to have it recovered by someone certified before the unit gets scrapped, and that happens on the disposal end rather than in your driveway.
Remodeling Debris Has Size Limits, Not Just Volume Limits
Naperville does take limited quantities of remodeling and construction material at the curb each week, including rolled carpeting, bathroom fixtures, cabinets, wood and drywall. The limits are specific. Carpet rolls can be no more than four feet long and two feet wide at under sixty pounds, with a maximum of two rolls a week. Everything else has to sit in containers under sixty pounds or get tied into bundles four feet long and two feet wide at under sixty pounds, with a maximum of two cans, two bundles, or one of each per week.
Hold those numbers up against a real tear-out and the gap shows immediately. A single bathroom produces more than two bundles. A kitchen produces several times that. The rule works for a repair and it does not work for a renovation.
What the Truck Will Not Take at All
Some material is banned from landfill disposal in Illinois, so it cannot go out with normal trash under any arrangement. Naperville's published list names appliances, tires, car batteries, televisions and electronic waste. Hazardous liquids are out. Landscape material stays out of the garbage stream as well, because state law keeps grass clippings, leaves, garden waste and branches out of landfills.
We do not take the hazardous side of that list either. Paint, stain, solvents, pool chemicals, pesticides, motor oil, gasoline, aerosols, propane, ammunition, asbestos, biohazard and medical waste are not material any junk hauler should offer to put on a trailer. There are proper places for all of them, and most of those places are listed further down this page.
Yard Waste, Stickers and the Fall Window
Yard waste in Naperville goes out on your regular collection day with a sticker on each bag, bundle or can. Containers have to be 32 gallon paper yard waste bags or a 32 gallon can clearly labeled for yard waste only, with a sixty pound limit. Branches get bundled with biodegradable twine, up to four feet long and two feet wide, with nothing thicker than three inches going in.
Stickers sell at the Municipal Center on South Eagle Street and at a long list of area grocery and hardware stores. The city runs a window in late fall when yard waste gets collected without stickers at no charge, and it also runs a free curbside bulk brush collection starting in early May for branches between three and eight feet long and up to six inches thick. The brush program will not take stumps, roots, dirt, lumber, railroad ties, vines or leaves. Both programs shift dates year to year, so check the city's current schedule before you stack anything at the curb.
Where the Rest of It Goes
Naperville runs three separate operations out of 156 Fort Hill Drive, and knowing which is which saves you a wasted trip.
- The recycling drop-off center takes paper, containers and scrap metal on Wednesdays and Saturdays, and it accepts residential material only. It does not take paint, mattresses, construction debris or hazardous waste.
- The electronics drop-off runs weekdays from 7 a.m. to 3 p.m. through eWorks ESI in partnership with DuPage County. Most electronics go at no charge, while televisions and monitors carry a per unit fee based on screen size.
- The household hazardous waste facility opens Saturdays and Sundays from 9 a.m. to 2 p.m. and takes oil-based paint and stain, solvents, pesticides, pool chemicals, automotive fluids, aerosols, batteries, fluorescent bulbs and propane tanks up to twenty pounds, from any Illinois resident at no charge. It turns away latex paint, tires, ammunition, sharps and medications.
Latex paint is the one that confuses everybody. It is not hazardous, so the facility sends it back with you. Dry it out by leaving the lid off or stirring in cat litter or sawdust, then set the can in your garbage with the lid off so the driver can see the paint has gone solid.
When Calling a Hauler Makes Sense Instead
The city service is built for a household's weekly output and it handles that well. It is not built for a basement that has been filling since 1994, a kitchen tear-out, an estate that has to be emptied before a closing, or six pieces of furniture that all need to leave at once rather than two a week for three weeks running. That is the work we do, and it starts with a number before anything goes on the trailer.
Naperville Questions
Does Naperville pick up bulk items at the curb?
Yes. The City of Naperville contracts with Groot Industries, and two bulk items a week come with your service at no extra charge. Bulk items mean furniture, barrels, crates and similar things that will not fit in a cart. Appliances and anything needing two people to lift do not count toward those two and follow their own rules.
Will Naperville take my old washer or freezer?
One appliance a week is included with Naperville residential service at no additional charge, and the list covers freezers, air conditioners, washers, dryers, dishwashers, hot water tanks and dehumidifiers. It has to be scheduled in advance rather than set at the curb like furniture. Call Groot at (630) 892-9294 to get it on the route.
Can I put remodeling debris in my Naperville garbage?
Limited amounts, yes. Naperville allows two 32-gallon cans, two bundles, or one of each per week, and each bundle has to be four feet long by two feet wide and under sixty pounds. Carpet is capped at two rolls cut to the same dimensions. A kitchen or bathroom tear-out produces far more than that in a single week.
Where do Naperville residents take televisions and electronics?
Naperville runs an electronics drop-off at 156 Fort Hill Drive, open weekdays from 7 a.m. to 3 p.m. and operated by eWorks ESI with DuPage County. Most electronics go at no charge. Televisions and monitors carry a per-unit fee that depends on screen size. Televisions and electronic waste are banned from landfills, so they cannot go in your cart.
Do I need a sticker for yard waste in Naperville?
Yes for most of the year. Naperville requires a sticker on each 32-gallon paper yard waste bag, labeled can or bundle, with a sixty pound limit and branches under three inches thick. Stickers sell at the Municipal Center on South Eagle Street and at area grocery and hardware stores. The city runs a sticker-free window in the fall, so check the current dates.
If what you need gone will not fit inside Naperville's two bulk items a week, call or text Onit Junk Removal at (815) 240-0735. Send a photo and your address and you get a price for the whole load in one visit, carried out by our crew and sorted for donation and recycling wherever there is an outlet for it. We are insured and we work Naperville out of Plainfield.
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