Sanitation
The Sanitation Department works five days a week to provide trash collection services for residences and businesses in Elkins. This page explains bag limits, accepted materials, bulk pickup options, and how to start or stop service.
General Information
Beginning September 1, 2025, the Sanitation Department will enforce the City’s first-ever garbage bag limit. Approved by City Council in June 2025, Ordinance 345 amends Chapter 50 of the Elkins City Code, setting the following bag limits for weekly curbside pickup:
- Twelve (12) 13-gallon kitchen bags, or
- Six (6) 30-gallon large trash bags, or
- Three (3) 55-gallon contractor bags
More information on what led to this change in policy is posted here.
Service
To stop or start sanitation service, including ordering dumpsters and roll-offs, please contact Utility Billing in the Finance Department.
Bulk Items
City of Elkins now offers monthly bulk-item trash pickups. City sanitation customers may now dispose of one bulk item per household per month at no additional cost. This service is for residential customers only.
Schedule
The department’s schedule does not change often, but sometimes this happens for the observance of certain holidays. You can obtain notification of these changes, as well as other city news, by subscribing to the email newsletter using the form on the left side of this page. We also publish this information on the city’s Facebook page.
What Kind of Garbage Do We Accept?
The Sanitation Department accepts household waste, including but not limited to cans, bottles, food scraps, food containers, paper products, and diapers.
Place all garbage in trash bags. Sanitation workers will not dump cans or pull small bags–such as supermarket shopping bags–out of your trash can.
Prohibited items:
- Appliances
- Batteries
- Building Materials
- Free flowing liquids
- Furniture
- Hazardous Materials
- Paint
- Tires
- Yard waste
Syringes, Lancets, and other Medical Sharps
If you are disposing of sharp objects such as needles or lancets, please place these in a hard plastic or metal container with a screw-on or tightly secured lid. For example, a metal coffee can will work if you cover and seal the lid with duct or other heavy-duty tape. Please do not use glass or clear plastic containers.
When the container is nearly full, add a sanitizing solution of one teaspoon household bleach to one pint of water, then seal the container. With a permanent marker, print “not recyclable–treated sharps” on the outside of the container with a contrasting color. Place the sharps container in a plastic bag and seal it with tape in case leakage occurs. Then, feel free to discard with the rest of your garbage.
Bulk Pickups, Yard Waste, and Recycling
Residential customers wishing to dispose of bulk items, such as furniture or appliances, have two options.
For information about glass and yard-waste recycling, please use the following links:
For More Information
Sanitation Department Supervisor
Tim Harper
917 South Railroad Avenue
Elkins, WV 26241
tharper@cityofelkinswv.gov
Operations Administrative Assistant
Shanna Poe
401 Davis Avenue
Elkins, WV 26241
304-636-1414, ext. 1437 (office)
spoe@cityofelkinswv.gov
