Residents must retain service directly with Waste Management or call (952) 890-1100. You will receive a bill from Waste Management quarterly.  Residents can only use the collection carts provided by Waste Management except for compostable bags for yard waste.

Choose a trash cart size that will hold one week's household garbage. To avoid additional charges, select a correctly-sized cart. Note: The lid of your Trash Cart must close. Extra trash that does not fit in your garbage cart can be put in trash bags for pick up. Waste Management will bill you directly, on your quarterly bill, $1.50 for each extra bag.

Recycling is collected every other week. You will receive a Recycling cart from Waste Management. Recycling carts can be ordered in several sizes for no additional charge. Choose the size that will best suit your household's needs. Recycling is unlimited in quantity. Note: Please do not bag your recyclables in plastic bags. They can not be recycled and cause issues with the mechanical sorting equipment. Use paper bags instead or just place your items directly into the Recycling Cart.

Curbside Collection:

• Place cart curbside after 5 p.m. the evening before your assigned collection day or before 6 a.m. on collection day.
• No mixing of household waste, yard waste, hazardous waste, recyclables or other solid waste shall be permitted.  It is against Minnesota state law. 
• Place at the end of your driveway or at the curb. Leave at least three (3) feet from cars, trees, mailboxes, fences and between carts.  Do not place the cart in the street or on boulevards.
• If it has just snowed and your street hasn’t been plowed, you must clear a space to ensure your carts are safely off the road. Any citizen is permitted to move a cart that is blocking the flow of traffic.
• Cart lid must be completely closed with the opening toward the street.
• Place additional bags beside the cart. You will be billed $1.50 per bag

Cart Storage: 

Be sure to put your carts away promptly after collection.  Carts shall be stored in an enclosed garage or accessory building. If they are not in an enclosed garage or accessory building, then they must be located behind the front line of the dwelling (on a corner lot this applies to both the front line and the exterior side line) in a location that is screened from view from the street. The screening must either be a wooden privacy fence, vegetation that when mature screens as effectively as a privacy fence, or some other effective permanent screen approved by the City Zoning Administrator.

Below are the current monthly residential rates. Please note, rates do not include taxes or service fees and your invoice from Waste Management may combine these fees together and be either monthly or quarterly. 

Rates for the R&E Disposal increase each January 1st.  Rates for Collection, Recycling, Yard Waste, Bulk and Billing increase 2.5% each July 1st.  Below are the rates for January 1, 2024 through June 30, 2024.

Collection of electronics, bulky items and appliances have yearly limits without additional fees.  If you go beyond the limits, there is an additional fee per item.  Any additional trash outside or overflowing garbage cart will be subject to a $1.50 per bag additional charge.

Your trash bill includes the hauler’s cost of providing the service (labor, equipment, insurance, etc.), and can include fuel surcharge, environmental fee, administrative charge, County Environmental Charge, and state or local taxes. The City of Stillwater has an organized collection with one hauler to provide residential service and service fees are set in the contract. Each July, contract prices increase with the exception of the tipping fee explained below which increases each January.

What is Non-Taxable Service Recycle on my bill?
This fee includes the service for collection of recycling, yard waste and bulk items. Collection of electronics, bulky items and appliances have yearly limits and if limits are exceed additional fee per item will be included on the bill. This fee also includes an (optional) billing charge. You can choose to go paperless and eliminate the billing charge.

What is Cart Service – Green Waste on my bill? (optional charge)
Residents can opt to pay $2 monthly for a yard waste container or a one-time fee of $45 instead of purchasing yard waste bags from a store. This allows residents to place their yard waste into a container for curbside pickup. 

What is the Minnesota Solid Waste Management Tax on my bill?
The tax is a mandatory charge that haulers must, by law, put on your bill. It is equal to 9.75% of the “sale price” for residential trash service, including any administrative or hauler-specific fuel/environmental fees. Commercial customers pay 17% of the “sale price” for trash service, including fees.

What is the County Environmental Charge (CEC) on my bill?
This is the service assessed by counties. It applies to trash collection and disposal service, fuel surcharges, and administrative fees. It does not apply to recyclables, yard waste or bulk items separated from the trash. In Washington County, the rate is 35% for residents and businesses. The fee supports waste management efforts, including household hazardous waste collection, recycling grants to cities and townships, environmental education programs and yard waste collection in the counties.

What is Toter on my bill?
This is the basic charge for trash collection. It is based on your trash cart size (e.g., 60-gallon service) and how often trash is collected (e.g., weekly, twice weekly, etc.). The cost of trash collection includes containers, collection vehicles, disposal at processing facilities, fuel, staff, insurance and much more. In general, the East Metro is a user-fee based system, with waste generators (residents, businesses) paying haulers for the services provided, and paying state taxes and county charges on that service.

The cost of trash service has two distinct parts: collection and disposal. About 2/3 of the cost comes from the collection and transportation of waste, which includes things like the cost of trucks, maintenance, fuel, labor, insurance and so on. The other 1/3 is for disposal – the “tipping fees” that haulers pay to deposit waste at a transfer station, landfill, or processing facility such as the Recycling & Energy Center (R&E Center)

What is a “tipping fee"?
This is the fee a waste hauler pays to deposit trash at the R&E processing center. It is usually charged by weight, on a per ton basis. An average household disposes about 1 ton of trash each year. This fee is reviewed annually and any increase is added to your trash collection fee on your bill every January 1^st.

What does the tipping fee pay for at the R&E Center?
The money collected from tipping fees covers the full cost of operations at the R&E Center. This includes labor, equipment, transporting and marketing recyclables and refuse-derived fuel, landfilling what can’t be recycled or used as fuel, maintenance and insurance.