City Hall Hours
8:00 a.m. to 6:00 p.m. Monday-Thursday
8:00 a.m. to 5:00 p.m. Alternating Fridays
Residents » Community Resources
Environmental & Recycling Services
The City of Norwalk provides quality services for residents and business owners, including refuse hauling and numerous recycling programs. Recycling conserves valuable resources and helps to create a healthy environment for our community and future generations. Reduce the amount trash you create. Reuse all items possible. Recycle cans, bottles, newspaper, grass clippings, organic waste, and other household items.
Remember, never just throw it away. Assess and Recycle! If you have questions or suggestions about reducing, reusing or recycling, call (562) 929-5964 or email: Recycling
Abandoned Item
To report an abandoned item, please call Athens Service at 888-336-6100 or submit a request here https://athensservices.com/bulky-item-pickup/. If you submit a bulky item request online, make sure you add a note that states that it is an abandoned item.
Shopping Cart Removal
To have an abandoned shopping cart removed, please contact Nationwide Environmental Services, Inc (NES) at (562) 860-0604 or info@nes-sweeping.com When reporting, please provide staff with the exact location of the cart, including major cross streets. Carts are collected within 48 hours from the call in most cases.
Bulky Item Pickup
Bulky item collection is strictly for the pickup of ordinary bulk items, such as refrigerators, stoves, washing machines, furniture, bundled tree branches, and non-automotive items. Contact Athens Services 24-hours before your regular trash collection day and provide them with a complete list of the items you need collected.
A special truck will be sent to collect the items. Items should be
placed out for collection by at least 6:00 a.m. on your collection day, but no sooner than 6:00 p.m. on the day before collection.
The trash companies will not collect regular trash, building materials, hazardous materials, recyclables, or automotive items for these special pickups. For more information about what you can and cannot leave contact Athens Services.
To schedule a pickup, call Athens Services at 855-557-1007 or visit them here https://athensservices.com/bulky-item-pickup/
Norwalk residents can separate and recycle on their own, going the extra mile and actively greening our communities.
Click here for materials you can recycle.
Following is listing of recycling centers near Norwalk that will take aluminum cans, glass, and plastic bottles if you would like to redeem them for cash:
Recycling centers at markets in Norwalk
Norwalk Recycling Center
10901 Imperial Hwy.
562-262-9602
Ponce Recycling
11660 Firestone Blvd.
323-533-4862
What is E-Waste?
The term "e-waste" is applied to consumer electronic equipment that is no longer wanted. Since electronics may contain lead, copper, and other heavy metals or potentially toxic substances, it is critical that any e-waste be disposed of properly. You can reduce e-waste by buying only what you need, reuse electronics that still work, and recycle electronics at the end of their useful lifecycle.
Examples of E-Waste accepted at HHW Collection Events:
CRTs: Computer monitors, television sets, TV/VCR combos, or anything else with a Cathode Ray Tube. Computers: CPUs, mice, keyboards, printers, scanners, or any other computer peripheral. Personal Electronics: Cell phones, radios, alarm clocks, hair dryers, etc.
City E-waste and Document Shredding Events
The City organizes E-waste and Document Shredding events. These events are typically scheduled on a specified Saturday from 9:00 a.m. to 2:00 p.m. during the months of February and October of each year. The event is FREE. Residents drive their vehicles to the location designated and conveniently drop off their e-waste and and can watch their documents get shredded on-site. To find out when the next scheduled City e-waste and shredding event is scheduled, please call City Hall at 562-929-5964 or email recycling@norwalkca.gov.
Business E-Waste
If you are a business with e-waste, please contact the County of Los Angeles at 1(800)98-TOXIC for a list of business e-waste recycling solutions. Information is also available online at the Los Angeles County Department of Public Works Environmental Programs Division website, under the Smart Business Recycler Locator.
It is illegal to dispose of Household Hazardous Waste (HHW) in the regular trash, as it is toxic and will pollute the environment. Bring your HHW to a County of Los Angeles FREE mobile HHW Round Up event, held on scheduled Saturday at various locations throughout Los Angeles County.
A Household Hazardous Waste and E-Waste Collection Event is a one-day, drive-through collection event where residents can drive to a specific location to drop off their hazardous waste. These events are FREE, open to the public, and held on a Saturday from 9:00 a.m. to 3:00 p.m. No appointment is needed. To locate the next closest collection event, call (888) CLEAN LA (888-253-2652), or visit www.888CleanLA.com.
FREE Upcoming Events
Household Hazardous Waste, or HHW, are toxic substances that cannot be placed in the trash bin. This includes brake fluid, paint, paint thinner, turpentine, cleaners with acid or lye, pesticides or herbicides, household batteries or car batteries, pool chemicals, motor oil, oil filters, expired pharmaceuticals, sharps (used medical needles or syringes), anti-freeze, and fluorescent light bulbs.
See flyer for additional acceptable items.
Do not bring: HHW from businesses, explosives, ammunition or radioactive materials, trash, tires, white goods (refrigerators, stoves, washing machines, etc.), or controlled substances.
Preparing Household Hazardous Waste for a Collection Event
- Bring the items in a sturdy box, preferably in their original labeled containers. Label materials that are not in their original containers. Be prepared to leave your containers. Put your box of household hazardous waste in the trunk of your car. Remove all other items from the trunk.
- Put like chemicals together. Separate unlike chemicals.
- Generally, there is a limit of 15 gallons or 125 pounds per vehicle.
- Make sure containers are not leaking and lids are tightly sealed.
- At the collection site, trained personnel will ask you to remain in your car while they remove the household hazardous waste from your trunk.
Additional information on HHW
AB 341
State law AB 341 requires recycling services for businesses and apartment complexes with 5 or more units. Please keep in mind that businesses and multi-family units in Norwalk are already in compliance since waste collected from these locations goes through a materials recovery process where recyclables are sorted and removed from the waste stream.
How to Arrange for Recycling Services if you wish to do so
If businesses and multi-family units wish to further increase recycling efforts, you can do so by separating your recyclable materials and taking them to a recycling center. Business may also donate, sell, and/or make other arrangements for pick up and recycling of the materials, so long as the business is not being charged for the service. Businesses and property owners-managers of multi-family units wishing to secure a separate bin for recyclables and who have sufficient space to store all trash and recycling bins within the existing trash enclosure should contact Athens Services (888) 336-6100. If there is insufficient space within the existing trash enclosure to store an additional bin, please contact the City’s Planning Division at (562) 929-5744 to evaluate site options. Fore more information, click here.
How to Educate Employees and/or Tenants
Employees and tenants are instrumental to a successful commercial recycling program. Please make sure your employees and tenants know which materials can be recycled and where to place the recyclable materials for temporary storage and ultimate collection. To educate employees and/or tenants, you can find information on the Athens website by clicking here.
AB 1826 - Mandatory Commercial Organics Recycling
Effective on January 1, 2016, California Assembly Bill (AB) 1826, mandatory commercial organics recycling, requires jurisdictions to have a commercial organics recycling program in place. The law phases in the requirements on businesses, including multi-family residential dwellings that consist of five (5) or more units, over time based on the amount and type of waste the business produces on a weekly basis, with full implementation realized in 2019:
- First Tier: Commencing in April 2016, the first tier of affected businesses includes those that generate eight (8) or more cubic yards of organic materials per week.
- Second Tier: In January 2017, the affected businesses are expanded to include those that generate four (4) or more cubic yards of organic materials per week.
- Third Tier: In January 2019, the affected businesses are further expanded to include those that generate four (4) or more cubic yards of solid waste per week.
In addition, jurisdictions are required to include information on compliance with this law in their annual report to CalRecycle per AB939.
Does Your Business Qualify?
For a better understanding of the waste your business produces and if your business falls within the thresholds of the AB1826 standards, please contact Athens Services at 888-336-6100 or visit Athens Services.
For more information on AB1826, please visit the website for the California Department of Resources, Recycling, and Recovery (CalRecycle).
What Not to Place in Recycling Bins
Hazardous waste such as batteries, paint, antifreeze, chemicals, and cleaning products should not be mixed in with your recyclable materials or trash bins.
Electronic devices (e-waste) such as old computers, monitors, TVs, and cell phones are recyclable, but also contain hazardous materials. These items should not be placed in recycling bins or in trash bins either. You can contact your trash hauler for a free pick up.
For more information about proper handling and disposal of such items, please call (888) CLEAN-LA or visit the Los Angeles County website www.CleanLA.com to drop off such items at an upcoming County Household Hazardous Waste (HHW) and E-waste roundup event free of charge.
Haulers may also offer a bulky item pick-up service for a fee. Please contact your hauler directly for more information.
Where to Go for More Information
Information about California’s commercial recycling requirements is available from the California Department of Resources Recycling and Recovery (CalRecycle) at http://www.calrecycle.ca.gov/Recycle/Commercial/.
If you have any questions regarding this program, please contact the City of Norwalk at (562) 929-5964 or recycling@norwalkca.gov.
An important part of the City's programs is the regular curbside collection of recyclables. Each single family home should have a blue container bin for their recyclable items. This program, accepts many products such as; glass and plastic bottles, aluminum and steel cans, and newspapers and junk mail, etc. A complete listing of recyclable products can be found by clicking here [PDF].
Additional blue containers are available at no charge by contacting Athens Services at (888) 336-6100, or visiting their website.
Scavenging
The City of Norwalk is aware of the scavenging problem that exists in our community and the Public Safety Department continually responds to reports filed by residents. The only way that Norwalk will be able to deter people from scavenging is with help from the community. Please call Public Safety at (562) 929-5732 to report scavengers. Also, try putting the most frequently taken recyclables at the bottom of the container and put your containers out in the morning instead of the night before.*
* Make sure you know when your trash collector comes so you do not miss being collected if you put it out in the morning.
Here's what residents need to know about trash and recycling collection.
What is allowed? What is not allowed? Who should they contact if they have questions?
After a lengthy evaluation process, Norwalk City Council selected Athens Services as its new service provider in April of 2018. Athens, founded in 1957, is Norwalk’s single solid waste hauler effective August 1, 2018.
The new agreement was approved by Council in May 2018. The newest contract allows residents living in single family homes to pre-arrange collection of up to five oversized items such as furniture and electronics once a week, with multi-family dwellings able to call in these “bulky item pickups” 12 times a year.
Among the enhancements offered by Athens are $5,000 in scholarships for Norwalk students pursuing college or university education and a 10% discount for Norwalk residents serving on active military duty, and residents who are Los Angeles County Sheriff’s deputies and firefighters assigned to Norwalk.
Connecting with Athens
Click here to visit the Athens Website.
Do Your Part for the Environment
Trash...Have you wondered where it all ends up? Each year, over 3,000,000 tons of solid waste is disposed of right here in our backyard and this landfill space is running out fast. Concern over our fragile environment and the ongoing solid waste disposal problem reached the state legislature in the late 1980's. This concern was deep enough to prompt the State government to pass laws aimed at finding solutions to our mounting trash problem. The State passed AB 939 in 1989, requiring all of California's cities and counties to create ways to divert large amounts of solid waste from landfills. AB 939 requires cities to reduce waste by 50% by the year 2000, prompting Norwalk to implement the 3-container system to separate waste into recyclables and non-recyclables.
In 2011, California State Assembly Bill 341 (AB341) was passed, establishing a State goal to reduce, recycle, or compost no less than 75% of waste generated by the year 2020. Norwalk residents are asked to participate fully in the program by recycling all products that are recyclable.
Contract with Athens Services
2018 - Agreement
2020 - First Amendment
2021 - Second Amendment
2024 Rates
Senior Discount Application
Athens Services provides a senior discount to residents who are 65 years of age or older and are head of households with the stipulation that they swap out their 96 gallon trash container for a 32 gallon container. Additional information on the form attached above.
Self-Hauling
Each occupied residence and business in the City of Norwalk is required to utilize the services of the City’s authorized collector (Athens Services) for the collection of solid waste and recyclables. NMC Section 8.48.280.C. There are certain exceptions to this requirement, which can be found at NMC Sections 8.48.210-270. One of these exceptions is the self-haul exclusion, set forth in NMC 8.48.260.
If a business owner or residential householder would prefer to, on a regular basis collect and dispose of solid waste generated from their premises, in lieu of utilizing the services of the City’s authorized hauler, they must first obtain a self-haul permit from the City, and comply with the procedures for self-hauling established by the City Manager. NMC Section 8.48.260.
Used Motor Oil & Filter Recycling
To promote the proper disposal of motor oil and filters, the City typically hosts at least 3 used motor oil filter exchange events each year, where residents can bring in their used oil filter and get a new one for FREE. They are typically held at one of the Certified Used Oil Collection Centers on a Saturday.
For any Norwalk resident that changes their motor oil on their personal vehicles, the City also offers temporary storage oil containers. Residents can use these containers to safely transport the motor oil to one of the Certified Used Oil Collection Centers for disposal, for pick-up through the curbside collection program, or at a County Roundup event. All of these programs are FREE and help keep used oil from contaminating our environment.
Certified Collection Centers:
- Auto Zone - 13927 S. Pioneer Blvd. - (562) 863-8794
- McKenna Porsche - 10830 Firestone Blvd. - (562) 345-7115
- McKenna VW Audi Porsche BMW - 10850 Firestone Blvd. - (562) 868-3233
- Norwalk Toyota - 11404 Imperial Hwy. - (562) 677-1350
- O'Reilly's Auto Parts - 12233 Norwalk Blvd. - (562) 406-2466
- O'Reilly's Auto Parts - 11559 Rosecrans Avenue - (562) 465-0131
Please call before visiting any Collection Center for hours of operation and amount accepted. Residents can also have their motor oil and filters picked up from their home FREE of charge. To schedule a curbside pick-up, please call (800) 449-7587