Solid Waste Authority of Palm Beach County News 

Dec. 16, 2022 

Contact: Willie Puz, Legislative and Public Affairs, 561-640-8914 (o); 561-379-2405 (c) 

The Christmas and New Year’s Holidays Will Not Impact Waste Collection in Unincorporated Palm Beach County 

With the Christmas Day holiday falling on Sunday, Dec. 25, there will be no garbage collection service impacts to residents living in unincorporated Palm Beach County.  

There will also be normal scheduled collection services for unincorporated residents on Christmas Eve (Saturday, Dec. 24), New Year's Eve (Saturday, Dec. 31), and New Year’s Day. In addition, there will be normal collection service on the SWA observed holidays of Monday, Dec. 26 and Tuesday, Dec. 27. 

While the SWA’s administrative offices will be closed, a limited number of Customer Service team members will be available to assist residents with any collection questions or concerns. SWA Customer Service can be reached by phone at 561-697-2700 or 866-792-4636, or email at ContactCIS@SWA.org. 

With the increase of garbage around the Christmas holiday, there are special holiday provisions in the collection’s contract for residents living in unincorporated Palm Beach County: 

Garbage 

• From Dec. 26 through Jan. 1, excess garbage can be placed outside of the standardized SWA garbage cart at the curb for pick up 
• Excess garbage placed outside of the standardized SWA garbage cart must be properly secured in plastic bags weighing less than 50 pounds when filled 
• All waste should still be placed curbside by 6 a.m. 

Recycling 

• Oversized or excess carboard may be placed beside the yellow recycle bin for collection 
• The packing material must be removed 

Yard waste 

• Remains limited to 6 cubic yards on the next yard waste collection day 

Bulk waste  

• Remains limited to 3 items at the curb on the next bulk waste collection day 

More information on holiday collection can be found online, as can additional information about SWA facilities and hours. Residents in unincorporated Palm Beach County can always see their updated collection schedule, set reminders, and sign up for collection information on the “My Pick-Up Days” webpage. 

Residents who live in one of Palm Beach County’s 39 municipalities should contact their municipality directly for their holiday collection schedule. A list of municipal contacts can be found online. 

The Solid Waste Authority of Palm Beach County is a Dependent Special District that was created by the Florida Legislature in 1975. Since then, the SWA has developed an award-winning integrated solid waste management system to handle the county’s waste and recyclables. We call ourselves AWAY: whether you throw it, recycle it or flush it AWAY, we put your waste to work. Each year, we: 

• Process more than 100,000 tons of recyclables each year 
• Combust approximately 1.8 million tons of trash each year to generate electricity at our renewable energy facilities 
• Produce enough electricity to power approximately 74,000 homes each year, or about the number of homes in Boca Raton and Palm Beach Gardens 
• Recycle more than 150,000 tons of wastewater treatment residuals (sludge from flushes) into environmentally-friendly fertilizer 
• Safely dispose of about 4.9 million pounds of home hazards a year 
• Collect water off of the roofs of Renewable Energy Facility 2 and store it in a 2 million gallon cistern, which is used as part of the energy making process 

With the recent changes to the SWA’s website, anyone can now sign up to receive SWA news, calendar updates, jobs, or other Web postings of interest by signing up online. Should you sign up online to receive SWA’s news releases, we can remove you from this distribution by sending a REMOVE reply to this email.

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