City services

What Johnstown City Collection Will and Will Not Take

One bulk item a month, arranged by phone. It is the tightest allowance we work under anywhere, and knowing exactly where it stops tells you when you need a container.

One bulk item a month

We are a dumpster company, so this may be an odd thing to lead with: for a small job in Johnstown you may not need a container at all. But the City's allowance is genuinely tight, and it is worth knowing exactly where it sits.

One item. Per month. Booked in advance by phone. For anything beyond that which is not considered household trash, the instruction is to contact the hauler and make arrangements before disposing of it.

That is a perfectly sensible service for replacing a mattress or getting rid of a broken armchair. Run it against a modest clear-out, though: a sofa, an armchair, a mattress, a dresser and an old recliner is five months of monthly collections, each one needing a phone call.

What counts as household trash

The distinction that matters. Regular collection is for household trash. The bulk allowance is for one large household item a month.

What falls outside both is everything a project produces — construction and demolition debris, renovation material, the contents of a cellar being cleared at pace. None of that is household trash, and the City's own guidance is to arrange disposal separately before you start.

Two more practical notes. Crews begin early, because landfills close earlier than usual, so material needs to be out in good time. And City trash collection is not affected by Martin Luther King Day, President's Day, Columbus Day, Veteran's Day, or the first day of buck season — which is a genuinely Pennsylvanian entry on a holiday schedule and worth knowing if you were expecting a delay.

Yard waste: 3 feet and 30 pounds

The City does collect yard waste, and the limits are specific.

• All yard waste must be bagged, boxed or bundled and placed by the curb
• Bundles no longer than 3 feet in length
• No more than 30 pounds
• Residents must call the office to schedule the pickup

Three feet is short and thirty pounds is light. A single decent limb off a mature tree exceeds both, and a hedge coming out produces a great deal more than a scheduled bundle collection will absorb.

So routine garden maintenance is well covered. Taking a tree down, clearing an overgrown lot or stripping out a bank of shrubs is container work.

Recycling: register first, then biweekly

Recycling is collected curbside biweekly, and there is a step people miss: you get a recycling bin when you register your address with the City.

The bin is for recycling only — no trash. It takes:

• Plastic jugs, jars and bottles #1 and #2
• Aluminium, tin and steel food and beverage cans
• Glass bottles, jugs and jars — no lids
• Newspapers, phone books, magazines, inserts, junk mail and envelopes

All items must be rinsed.

Corrugated cardboard does not go in the bin — it goes to the drop-off centres, and the County has placed recycling containers at Roxbury Park among others.

Electronics are banned by state law

Not a City rule and not a company policy. This one is Pennsylvania law and it catches almost everyone.

The obligation sits with manufacturers to provide recycling, through one-day collection events, mail-back programmes or retailer take-back. Some retailers accept them directly.

Practically: an old television cannot go out with your trash, cannot go in a township cart, and cannot go in our container. The City maintains a list of businesses that take electronics, the County Solid Waste Authority can point you at collection events, and the state DEP runs a recycling hotline.

On a house clear-out, sort the electronics out first. Discovering the rule with a television in your hands on the last day is the wrong time.

What the City takes free

Worth knowing before you pay for anything.

• Used motor oil, free, at the Highway Garage on Sixth Avenue in Cambria City, Monday to Friday 7:00am to 2:30pm. It gets recycled into heating fuel, new motor oil and industrial lubricants.
• A list of businesses that recycle appliances, electronics, tires and batteries, scrap metals and aluminium, cooking oil and office paper. Call the office for it.
• Corrugated cardboard at the County drop-off containers.
• Christmas trees at Roxbury Park, by the big blue bins on the Derby Street side, by early February. The City recycles around 1,500 a year.

The County Solid Waste Authority also runs appliance pickup dates and hazardous waste collections, which are the right route for a fridge or for old paint and chemicals.

The boroughs and townships are different

Everything above applies to City of Johnstown addresses. This valley is a patchwork of separate municipalities and their rules are their own.

Upper Yoder Township, as one example, runs a cart-based system: everything must fit inside the carts provided, loose items on the ground are left at the curb, and extra capacity means an additional cart at an annual charge rather than something you add for one job. Its 2026 base annual charge is $230.00, with additional garbage carts at $85.00 each. There is also a strict curbside window — out no earlier than 5pm the day before, back off the curb by 6pm on collection day.

Westmont, Southmont, Ferndale, Geistown, East Conemaugh, Franklin and the rest each set their own arrangements. If you are not sure which municipality you are in, your property tax bill is definitive.

When a container is the right answer

• Any renovation or remodelling project. Construction debris is not household trash under any of these systems.
• More than one bulk item — which is to say, almost any clear-out with a deadline.
• Yard waste past 3 feet or 30 pounds, or anything with stumps, soil or a hedge in it.
• A cellar or attic clear-out you want finished in a week rather than staged across months.
• Anything a contractor generated — that debris is theirs to remove.
• Business, rental or commercial property.
• Any address outside the city line, where the cart limits apply instead and are no looser.

Call and describe what you are clearing. If the City service will handle it, we will say so — and if it genuinely will not, we will put you in the right size container for your driveway.