Helpful Hints for Spring Cleaning
Published on February 10, 2025
Spring is a time to clean your home, open the windows, and unclutter your space. Clearwater Solid Waste and Recycling offers some helpful hints for reducing, reusing, recycling, or properly disposing of unwanted items.
Household Items
- Have a yard sale or donate items to charity instead of throwing them away.
- Bulk items should be placed at the curb properly and easily accessible for our collectors. Try to make the items out for collection as clean and as safe as possible. Items can carry germs and diseases and can be harmful to our solid waste crews.
- Make old clothing into cleaning rags.
- Use old toothbrushes and other brushes to clean bathroom tile, shoes, etc.
- Reuse glass jars to store nails, screws, craft supplies and other small items in the garage.
- Give old magazines and books to nursing homes, schools, hospitals, charities, etc.
- Find a local "buy nothing" group on social media, so you can give away what you no longer use to someone who wants or needs it in your community.
- If you are disposing of old household appliances, the doors must be removed before being set out for collection.
Yard Waste
- Leaves and grass clippings should be bagged or boxed and placed at the curb. Keep in mind when properly filling bags with yard waste the amount of waste. Often times we service bags and boxes that are too heavy to lift or cause damage to the container they were placed in.
- Bundle tree limbs and brush cut into 4-foot lengths.
- Yard waste should be placed at the curb in bundles or in containers other than the city-issued black and blue barrels on your trash collection day. Do not put vegetation in your recycling bin, as this contaminates good and true recyclables.
Recycle What You Can
The following items can be placed in the blue recycling bin and set out at the curb on your scheduled collection day:
- Newspapers
- Aluminum cans
- Steel (tin) cans
- Mixed paper (any paper that tears)
- Plastic bottles (with a neck)
Additionally, you may drop off items at the city's recycling drop-off center, located at 1701 N. Hercules Ave. This location also accepts cardboard, glass, and cooking oil.
Disposal for Electronics WITHOUT Rechargeable Batteries
- In Clearwater, place your household electronics in your black barrel trash can and not on the ground. It must be in a bin.
- If you live in an apartment or condominium complex with shared trash, you can place your electronics in your city of Clearwater dumpster.
- If the electronic is too big and does not fit in your black barrel, call (727) 562-4920 to request a special pickup.
Disposal for Electronics WITH Rechargeable Batteries
- If you can remove the rechargeable batteries, take it out and place the rest of the electronic device in your trash.
- If you cannot remove the rechargeable battery, bring the item to a drop-off location using Pinellas County’s “Where Does It Go?” search tool.
- Do not place items with rechargeable batteries in garbage or recycling bins. They can cause fires when compressed in solid waste trucks, harming workers and the environment.
Electronic Waste may be taken to a Pinellas County mobile collection event or to the Pinellas County Hazardous Collection Center at 2855 109th Ave. N., in St. Petersburg, Fla. Pinellas County Solid Waste Operations can be reached at (727) 464-7500.
Hazardous Waste
The following items are considered hazardous materials that should not go in your garbage or recycling cart.
- Liquid paint
- Pool chemicals
- Needles and sharps
- Auto batteries
- Tires
- Flammable items
All hazardous materials must be brought to Pinellas County Hazardous Collection Center at 2855 109th Ave. N., in St. Petersburg, Fla. Additionally, you can attend one of Pinellas County’s mobile collection events. Call (727) 464-7500 for more information.
Still Have Questions?
Call the city of Clearwater's Solid Waste & Recycling Department at (727) 562-4920 or visit our website.