Curbside organics changes in Iowa City begin July 1

IOWA CITY — As of July 1, Iowa City’s curbside organics (food scraps and yard waste) collection program will no longer accept personal 20-35 gallon containers. Customers will be required to use a city-issued organics cart (25 gallons or 95 gallons, yellow lid), paper yard waste bags (for yard waste only), and/or bundles for collection.

If you do not already have a cart, you can sign-up at icgov.org/organics or call (319) 356-5151 to obtain one. Customers will not see an additional charge on their bill for this cart, as it is included in the $2 per month fee charged to all customers.

View the new Curbside Composting Guide for information on what can and cannot be composted at the curb.

20-35 gallon personal container drop-off event

Iowa City will be hosting an organics container drop-off event on Sunday from noon to 2 p.m. at 1200 South Riverside Dr. Iowa City curbside customers can drop off empty, unwanted, personal 20-35 gallon organics (food and yard waste) containers at no cost.

The event will feature a drive-through format, with staff and signage available to direct residents on where to drop off their containers.

If residents prefer to have their unwanted personal organics containers picked up at the curb, they can purchase a $2.50 refuse sticker at participating stores (list at icgov.org/garbage), attach it to the container, and place it at the curb next to curbside carts on their regular collection day by 7 a.m. These containers should not be placed inside a curbside cart for disposal.

Note: Containers disposed of in this manner will be landfilled, not recycled. Residents can have containers recycled by dropping containers off at the Sunday event.

Ordering additional carts or exchanging for a different size

Residents will be allowed additional city-provided carts (25- or 95 gallons) at a cost of $2 per month per cart to cover the cost of the cart and service. Additional carts will be delivered based on cart availability. An online request form is available at https://www8.iowa-city.org/Forms/organics_cart_request.

If a customer determines that an additional cart that they had ordered is no longer needed, a pickup can be scheduled for January of the following year. The monthly cart fee will continue to be charged until that time.

To get a smaller or larger cart, residents should contact customer service at (319) 356-5151.

Returning additional carts

Some customers may have received a second cart during initial delivery efforts. Beginning July 1, these customers will be charged an additional $2 per month for the second cart. If the additional carts are no longer needed, please contact customer service at (319) 356-5151 to schedule a pickup. This pickup will be scheduled as soon as possible.