If you searched for garbage service in New Lenox, here is the answer first. Residential collection runs through Homewood Disposal, and every home in the village is on cart service. One bulk item or appliance a week comes with that service at no added charge. Larger pieces need a phone call so the right truck comes. Below is what goes at the curb, what has to be scheduled, and where the banned material has to go.
Who Picks Up Garbage in New Lenox
Garbage, recycling and yard waste in New Lenox run through Homewood Disposal, and residents are billed quarterly by Homewood and pay the company directly rather than through a village utility bill. You may still see Nuway, Star or Kankakee Disposal on containers around town, because those companies joined Homewood and operate as the same outfit now. ONIT Junk Removal is not your garbage service and cannot put you on that route.
Homewood Disposal answers service questions at 708-798-1004. Village Hall is at 815-462-6400, and New Lenox Public Works is at 815-215-4800, which matters because the village runs its own leaf vacuum and branch pickup separately from the hauler. The rest of this page covers where the hauler's limits sit.
Cart Service and What Counts as Overflow
A minimum level of cart service is required at every home in the village. New Lenox garbage carts are green and come in 35, 65 and 95 gallon sizes, and recycling comes as a brown 95 gallon cart collected every other week on your regular day.
The cart size you chose changes how overflow is handled, and this is the detail worth a phone call. Homewood's current New Lenox page says that on 65 or 95 gallon service, garbage that does not fit in the cart goes to the curb in your own 32 gallon bags or can at no additional charge, while 35 gallon service needs a red Extra Refuse sticker on every extra bag. The village's own FAQ page still describes a weekly sticker on bags. The two pages do not agree, so confirm which applies to your address with Homewood at 708-798-1004 before you buy stickers you may not need. Red Extra Refuse stickers sell at Village Hall, Jewel and Berkots.
One Bulk Item or Appliance a Week Comes With Your Service
Removal of one bulk item or appliance each week is included with single family home service in New Lenox. Set it at the curb on your regular collection day and in many cases your normal driver takes it.
The pieces that ride out with the regular truck include sofas, love seats, recliners, bookcases, tables and TV cabinets. A mattress and box spring go out together and get taken as a set. If a mattress or box spring has bed bugs, it needs to be wrapped or sealed in plastic before pickup, which protects the crew handling it. Basketball hoops are included in the weekly bulk service, with the poles cut into four to five foot lengths, the sand or water drained out of a portable base, and a permanent concrete base broken into fifty pound pieces.
The Items That Need a Separate Truck
Heavier and larger items still count as your one bulk item, but they require a scheduled pickup because Homewood sends a different truck for them. The published list covers refrigerators, freezers, stoves, dryers, washing machines, water heaters, air conditioners and central air units, pianos, pool tables, hot tubs, basketball hoops, and sectional sofas or sofa beds. The general test is whether one person can lift it.
Schedule those through Homewood Disposal at 708-798-1004 or their online bulk pickup request form. Hot tubs and pool tables have a second path worth knowing about. Cut either one into pieces that each weigh no more than fifty pounds and they go out with your regular pickup. If breaking it down is not realistic, a whole unit can be set out on your regular day after you contact the office, and a whole hot tub or pool table may carry an additional charge depending on your location.
Electronics Have to Be Scheduled Separately
Electronics are banned from Illinois landfills, and Homewood states plainly that they are not accepted in curbside garbage or in all in one recycling. That covers televisions, monitors, computers, laptops, tablets, printers, keyboards, fax machines, scanners, game consoles, cable and satellite receivers, DVD players and VCRs.
New Lenox residents have two reasonable routes. Homewood runs a separate scheduled e-waste pickup service you can book by phone or through their site. Will County also holds free electronics and household hazardous waste drop-off events that are open to residents of communities in Will County, with an appointment required through willcountygreen.com, identification checked at the gate, and per-vehicle limits on items like televisions and paint. Register first, because the exact location is sent to you after you sign up.
Yard Waste, Stickers and the Free Leaf Weekends
Yard waste season in New Lenox runs April 1 through November 30. Grass, leaves and branches count as yard waste, dirt and rock do not, and Illinois law keeps yard waste out of your garbage entirely.
Everything goes in brown paper yard waste bags with a green yard waste sticker attached, and green stickers sell at Village Hall, Berkots and Jewel. Branches get cut to three or four foot lengths, stay under six inches in diameter, and go either inside a bag or into bundles tied with twine, with a sticker on each bundle. Seniors receive a set number of free yard waste bags each year through the village, so ask Village Hall whether your household qualifies.
Two things make this cheaper. Homewood rents 95 gallon yard waste carts, and nothing inside the cart needs a sticker. Then from December 1 through March 31, when the yard waste cart is idle, residents on 95 and 65 gallon garbage service can use that cart for extra garbage at no additional charge and with no red stickers needed. That winter option is not available on 35 gallon service. New Lenox also gets free fall leaf collection on a run of weekends from late October into Thanksgiving week, where leaves in paper bags go with no stickers required, though bags of grass, garden waste or brush still need them.
If Your Address Is Unincorporated, the Rules Change
New Lenox has unincorporated pockets, and the village contract does not reach them. Residents at unincorporated addresses set up service individually with the hauler rather than receiving it through the village arrangement.
The difference shows up on bulk pickup. Homewood notes that residents in unincorporated areas, along with condos, townhomes and apartments, may be charged for a bulk pickup that a single family home inside the village gets included. Homeowners associations and commercial customers can carry additional charges as well. Call 708-798-1004 and confirm which category your address falls into before you count on a free bulk item.
What No Hauler Will Take at the Curb
The village branch program will not accept railroad ties, wood telephone poles, construction material, lumber, stones, roots or root balls, vines, dirt, nails or metal, which rules out most of what a landscaping or demolition project generates.
Neither the village nor Homewood publishes a curbside allowance for construction and remodeling debris in New Lenox, so call the hauler before you stack any of it at the curb and get a straight answer for your address. Household hazardous waste has its own destinations. Will County's drop-off events take it by appointment, and the permanent facility at 156 Fort Hill Drive in Naperville is open Saturdays and Sundays from 9 a.m. to 2 p.m. to any Illinois resident at no charge. Latex paint is the exception people get wrong. It is not hazardous, so dry it out with cat litter or sawdust and set the can out with the lid off.
We do not take that hazardous 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 put on a trailer.
Common Questions
Does New Lenox pick up large items at the curb?
Yes. One bulk item or appliance a week comes with single family service in New Lenox at no added charge. A sofa, a mattress and box spring set, a recliner, a table or a bookcase can go out on your regular day. Heavier pieces need a call to Homewood Disposal at 708-798-1004 first so the right truck gets routed to you.
Will Homewood Disposal take my refrigerator or washer in New Lenox?
An appliance counts as your one bulk item for the week in New Lenox, and refrigerators, freezers, stoves, dryers, washers, water heaters and air conditioners all need a scheduled pickup because a separate truck comes for them. Request it through Homewood Disposal at 708-798-1004 or their online bulk form. Setting one at the curb unannounced usually means it sits there.
What happens if my garbage does not fit in the cart in New Lenox?
Cart service is required at every New Lenox home, and the green carts come in 35, 65 and 95 gallon sizes. How overflow is handled depends on your service level, and the village FAQ and Homewood's page currently describe it differently. Call Homewood at 708-798-1004 and confirm what applies to your address before buying stickers.
Can I put remodeling debris out with my New Lenox garbage?
Neither the village nor Homewood Disposal publishes a curbside allowance for construction and remodeling debris in New Lenox, so call 708-798-1004 before you stack any at the curb. The village branch program will not take construction material, lumber, railroad ties, stones, roots, dirt, nails or metal. A gut of a kitchen or bathroom needs a container or a hauler instead.
Do I need stickers for yard waste in New Lenox?
Yes, from April 1 through November 30. Each brown paper yard waste bag and each tied bundle of branches needs a green sticker, sold at Village Hall, Berkots and Jewel in New Lenox. Branches get cut to three or four feet and stay under six inches thick. Renting a 95 gallon yard waste cart removes the sticker step for anything inside it.
One bulk item a week is a real benefit, and for a single recliner or a worn out mattress it is the right answer. The limit shows itself when a whole room has to go. A basement redo sends out the sectional, the bar stools, the carpet and the first flat screen the family owned in the same week, not one piece a week for a month. Remodeling debris has no published curbside path here at all. That is where ONIT Junk Removal comes in. Text a photo and your New Lenox address to (815) 240-0735 and you get the number before anything goes on the trailer, with our crew doing the carrying and the donatable pieces pulled aside. If you would rather load it yourself across a weekend, we rent dump trailers too. We are insured and we work New Lenox out of Plainfield.
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