The City of Cape Coral contracts solid waste removal services to help keep our City’s streets clean and safe. Each residence is provided a tan bin for household waste and a green bin for recyclables. These bins are property of the City and must remain with the dwelling.
Residents should familiarize themselves with trash collection protocols to optimize available services and stay in compliance with City requirements.
Garbage, recycling, yard waste, and bulk waste are all collected on the same day.
Service will not take place on New Year’s Day, Memorial Day, Independence Day, Labor Day, Thanksgiving, or Christmas. When any of these six holidays falls on a weekday, trash service will be delayed one day from the holiday for the remainder of the week.
Bins should be:
Placed at the edge of the road, wheels and handles facing the house.
At least three feet away from other waste bins.
At least 5 feet away from mailboxes, trees, parked cars, etc.
Extra garbage and recycling:
When your garbage bin is full, extra garbage should be placed in plastic bags next to the cart.
Extra recycling should be set out in a clearly labeled cardboard box.
Neither can weigh more than 50 pounds.
Yard Waste:
The City provides collection of residential horticulture waste including trimmed branches and limbs from trees and shrubs, grass clippings, fallen fruit, leaves, weeds, and palm fronds. Residents can:
Use brown biodegradable paper yard clippings bags or their own cans that are 40-gallon-size or smaller and weigh less than 50 pounds when loaded.
Neatly set out branches trimmed shorter than 6 feet and weighing less than 50 pounds. If they are smaller than 4 inches in diameter, they must be bundled.
Set out palm fronds neatly stacked, facing the same direction, and separated from all other yard waste. They do not need to be cut down to size or bundled.
Bulk waste:
Bulk items should not be stacked and should be easy for two people to pick up.
All items need to be placed within three feet of the road.
Any item that can fit in a trash bin should be placed in the bin.
“Move-Outs” are not part of the normal bulk pick-up process and must be scheduled for removal. Note: A fee may be imposed.
Cardboard should be broken down and placed in recycle bin.
Residents can also drop off bulk waste at the North Cape Government Complex, 1200 Kismet Parkway, Tuesday-Saturday, from 8 a.m. – 4 p.m. The Bulk Waste Drop-off Site can be accessed from Northwest 14th Avenue.
When a resident hires a company to work on fences, provide landscaping services, trim trees, etc. the service provider is responsible for disposing of all debris and rubbish resulting from the work. They may not leave anything behind for City contractors to collect.
Examples of compliant bulk waste:
Household Chemical Waste:
The City holds quarterly drop-off events to collect bulk items and household chemical waste at City Hall, 1015 Cultural Park Boulevard. The next drop-off event will be held August 5, 2023 from 7-11 a.m.
The City of Cape Coral Council will hold a Special Meeting at noon on Wednesday, May 24, in City Hall Council Chambers, 1015 Cultural Park Boulevard.
The Special Meeting agenda has three items: Resolution 133-23, Resolution 134-23, and Introduction of Ordinance 52-23. The agenda, with details on each item, can be found here.
The temporary burn ban issued by the City of Cape Coral on March 10, 2023 has been rescinded.
Residents are urged to continue to use caution with recreation and cooking fires.
Recreational fires must comply with the stipulations of the City’s Code of Ordinance for recreational burns, such as being 25’ from any structure, having an extinguishment source, and the fire must be kept to a maximum of 3’ in diameter and 2’ in height.
Recreational fires are not intended for vegetation or rubbish disposal, per Ordinance. More information on burning in the City of Cape Coral can be found at: www.capecoralfire.com/burn-regulations.
In addition, the Cape Coral Fire Department continues to request the community be vigilant in not disposing of lit smoking materials outdoors, including from a car window.
If adequate rainfall does not occur soon, our area may soon join Southern Lee County and Northern Collier County in an extreme drought condition classification.
Reducing water usage now is vital to protecting Cape Coral’s water resources. As the dry season persists, the City of Cape Coral encourages its residents to conserve water by watering lawns only once weekly voluntarily.
At a minimum, Cape Coral residents can do their part to reduce water consumption by optimizing their irrigation system for high efficiency and following the City’s year-round watering schedule. If you have water-sensitive landscaping that needs extra water, we encourage you to water them by hand during the daylight hours. City ordinance allows watering by hand with a garden hose and cut-off nozzle at any time of the day or night.
Current drought conditions are impacted by the lack of rain, record-high temperatures, and the influx of new residents, recovery workers, and seasonal residents.
Current rainfall is 5 to 6 inches below the seasonal average over the past 30 years.
Approximately two-thirds of the water that supplies the city’s irrigation system comes from the City’s 300 miles of freshwater canals. The City is pumping 16 million gallons daily into Gator Slough from Charlotte County to rehydrate the city’s freshwater canals due to extremely low levels.
The City of Cape Coral will begin restoring the Iwo Jima Memorial at Four Mile Cove Ecological Preserve on Tuesday, April 11. The restoration process is anticipated to take a minimum of six weeks.
Work must be completed before the rainy season to ensure the monument cures properly. Passersby may see scaffolding or a boom truck on site blocking the monument, but this is necessary to ensure it is preserved for future generations to enjoy.
The Iwo Jima monument became a permanent fixture at Four Mile Cove Ecological Preserve in 1998 and was last rehabilitated in 2011.
The 20-foot statue depicts six Marines raising the American Flag on Mount Suribachi, the highest point on an island south of Tokyo named Iwo Jima. The memorial is easily visible to commuters crossing the Midpoint Memorial Bridge, which connects Cape Coral and Fort Myers.
Lee County residents are invited to participate in a survey to share ideas about the features and amenities important to a reimagined Lee Civic Center. Go to www.leegov.com/CivicCenter for the survey and related information.
The Lee Board of County Commissioners is working with county staff to visualize a new, reimagined future for the Lee County Civic Center complex,11831 Bayshore Road, North Fort Myers. This includes a commitment to maintaining activities for 4-H and the Southwest Florida Fair. This also includes a process to see what short-term repairs can be made to keep the site operational.
An assessment study of the property was conducted last year by a team of specialized local architects and engineers licensed in Florida.
The study evaluated all 14 buildings of the 96-acre property. The executive summary, also available on the website, provides an overview of the completed comprehensive structural and architectural assessment.
To watch a video of the Lee Board of County Commissioners discussing the Civic Center on March 21, go here. At that meeting, staff made a recommendation, which the Board approved, to temporarily close all buildings on the Lee Civic Center property effective immediately with the exception of the Civic Center main building, which remained open until Sunday, April 2, for the conclusion of the Ft. Myers Gun Show.
County staff will provide an update Tuesday at the regularly scheduled Board of County Commissioners’ meeting. This will include recommendations for the structures at the site, some of which will reopen soon to accommodate upcoming events.
The commission meeting begins at 9:30 a.m. in Board Chambers in the Old Lee County Courthouse, 2120 Main St., downtown Fort Myers.
With input from the community, the board will keep as many activities as possible while envisioning a brighter future for what it can provide to the community.
