Village garbage and refuse collection is handled by the Town of Oyster Bay through an intermunicipal cooperative agreement between the Town and the Village. Village residents have garbage, rubbish and bulk items collected twice a week and recyclable material is collected once a week.
Garbage includes all animal and vegetable waste and easily combustible materials. Garbage must be placed in securely covered metal or plastic cans. Plastic bags may be used for rubbish and leaves, but not for garbage as bags easily can be tom open by food-seeking animals.
Rubbish is any solid material such as carpet, metal, crockery, ashes, lawn and tree trimmings and wood. Rubbish containers may not exceed 32 gallons. Items such as branches, shrubs, carpets and boxes from appliances or furniture must be tied into bundles not exceeding four feet in length and two feet in diameter. No rubbish container or tied bundle may exceed 50 pounds.
Bulk items such as mattresses, refrigerators and freezers with doors removed, or other major appliances and furniture should be put out for regular rubbish collection. However, not more than three bulk items may be placed for collection at one time.
Recyclable Materials (SORT) include newspapers (bundled and tied with twine and placed next to, not inside, the SORT pail), metal food and beverage cans (food residue and labels removed), glass food beverage bottles (food residue removed) and plastic food containers (food residue removed). The cans, bottles and plastic must be put together in the yellow SORT container. This container must not be used for any other garbage or rubbish collection.
The following are not recyclable materials: oil or paint cans, aerosol cans, wire clothes hangers, aluminum chair frames, steel and aluminum pipes, license plates, pots, pans, mirrors, window glass, ceramics, light bulbs, grocery paper bags, plastic bags, tape, cardboard, etc.. All of these non-recyclables are to be included in rubbish. Other garbage regulations are:
- Garbage, rubbish, and bulk items are to be placed at the curb, not at the street. Material must not be placed prior to 6:00 PM the day before collection, and must be retrieved by 8:00 PM on collection day.
- Garbage cans must be kept covered at all times and may not be stored in front of the front house line.
- A maximum of ten items not exceeding 200 pounds is the collection limit, not including the maximum of three bulk items.
- Waste materials from construction, such as broken stone or concrete, large timbers, heating materials (boilers, radiators), windows, roofing, etc. must be carted away by the resident or his contractor.
- Telephone directories and Christmas trees have special collections.
The Town has a S.T.O.P. (Stop Throwing Out Pollutants) program to dispose of polluting materials. The Voice of the Village lists the date and location of the collection point, a different Town location each month. The Town accepts most pesticides and insecticides, waste oil and antifreeze, brake and transmission fluids, solvents, enamel and lead paints and cans, drain and oven cleaners, photo chemicals, spot removers, wood preservatives, automobile tires (no rims) and batteries, and small aerosol cans. The Town will not accept "Weed-B-Gone" or Silvex, Kepone, explosives, fireworks, radioactive materials, unlabeled materials (unless identifiable by someone at the collection point), propane tanks, etc.
The Town of Oyster Bay mails to all residents an annual calendar that lists all garbage collection holidays, S.T.O.P. locations and dates, date and location of various types of entertainment and other information that is pertinent to life in the Town of Oyster Bay. This calendar should be retained and referenced as a local information source.
