FAQS

FAQS

We have a ton of questions asked about trash pickup every day – so we’ve learned how to answer many garbage pickup questions you might have! Our sanitation service pros are ready and waiting to answer your questions – but for an instant answer, check out some of these FAQs! 

In addition, here are some of the main guidelines that we have for our trash pickup services in Northwest Florida! If you are looking for more specific information for our Okaloosa County or Santa Rosa County Bulk Waste or Yard Waste. In that case, you are in the right place, too!

You may be wondering what the general rules are for our trash service! Check out our general guidelines below for more information.(click on the links below, if you’re looking for more specific information on Bulk Waste or Yard Waste)

Adams Sanitation observes the following holidays:

🧨 New Year’s Day

🎖Memorial Day

The Fourth of July

💪🏻 Labor Day

🦃 Thanksgiving Day

🎄Christmas Day

 

We will provide more information as the holiday approaches as to how we will conduct trash pick up that week. 

At Adams Sanitation, you pay monthly! Customer bills are sent to customers on the 15th of the month and are due on the first of the following month – so about two weeks after you receive it! 

For example, your Adams Sanitation trash bill for the month of March will come to your inbox from trashbilling.net by February 15th. 

Visit our Pay My Bill page to learn more about payment options, including setting up autopay. 

The honest answer is that it depends!

All of our customers, except for our customers in Jay, Florida, are subscription customers. Because of this reality, we continue to gain new customers all of the time. This means the exact time of your trash pickup will change periodically to accommodate new customers on the route.

Because of these small changes, we ask you have your Adams Sanitation trash cart out by the road no later than 6 am the day of your pickup. By having your trash can out by 6 am, you ensure that we can pick up your trash before you get home and that we don’t clog up the roads during rush hour!

 

If your trash is not picked up on your regular collection day, and the container was placed out by 6 am, notify us at (850)-537-3282. You can also use Adams Sanitation’s Contact Us Form to let us know about the missed pickup. Please alert us by 4:00 pm the next business day. 

Finally, please leave your cart out until you hear from us that we have missed your stop. Some days, we haven’t forgotten you – we were running behind for various reasons, including weather or vehicle issues. 

Place leaves in your trash cart or bag them and place them by the cart and we’ll make them disappear!

We will take away limbs no larger than 6 inches in diameter and 4 feet long. 

Bundles of limbs set in or by the trash can should be no more than 3 feet in total diameter.

We offer this service, free of charge, once per month to all our customers! This pickup allows a maximum of 10 bags of leaves and four bundles of branches per yard waste pickup. 

For more information, check out our Adams Sanitation Yard Waste Infographic

Each Adams Sanitation customer gets one free bulk pick-up per month!

After you put your bulk items out for disposal, you can expect them to be gone within three days!
We will also collect bulk items placed by the can that are small and light enough (50 lbs or less) for our drivers to load without injuring the driver or the truck.

Finally, we do not take King Sized mattresses. 

Adams Sanitation will collect up to four items that you place next to the cart that we provide you at every pickup. Each of the items that you place by the trash cart should be a similar size to a typical kitchen trash bag. 

“I don’t know about you, but I’ve never had any trash haulers near me ever say that they will take more than what is in the trash can. That’s just more than you can expect!” – Adams Customer Melissa D. 

Additionally, Adams Sanitation is happy to take items that are under 50 pounds with your regular collection. If you regularly put more than four items outside your cart, it may be time for you to upgrade to an extra cart! You can do that by clicking here, or calling 850.537.3282. 

Curious about Adams Sanitations Bulk Waste Pickup or Yard Waste Pickup policies? Check out our infographics for more information!


Unfortunately, Adams Sanitation cannot empty personal trash cans for our customers. This is because we cannot tip, or put trash into the truck using the hydraulic aid, on non-Adams carts.

Our Adams Sanitation trash carts are specifically designed to work with our trucks and reduce the risk of injury to our waste hauling professionals.

If you need another trash cart for your garbage, we can make that happen for you! It’s a very affordable cost for an additional trash cart – $11 per month for another 95-gallon cart to use twice per week.

Please fill out this form for an additional cart if you require another cart. Or you can call the Adams Sanitation Phone Number at 850.537.3282

Trash can get everywhere, especially if left by the curb unbagged. 

We cannot collect all of the debris that may fly around the neighborhood if it is unbagged. 

While trash inside the cart does not need to be bagged, trash outside of the cart does. 

That being said, it really helps us out if your trash is bagged inside your cart as well. This makes our jobs a little easier and helps ensure that loose trash doesn’t make it out of the back of the truck and into the neighborhood. 

Please put your trash can out on trash days with the trash can handles facing the road. Placing your trash cart like this makes it easier for local garbage pickup to take place quickly and effectively! Adams Sanitation employees will return your trash cart to the curb at a 90º angle from where we found it in order to make it easier for you to know that we have picked up your trash and taken it to the Santa Rosa County Landfill!

Adams Sanitation Employees are trained to almost never go on to a customers’ property to get their trash can. Our insurance and liability providers do not cover issues, like accidental bumps and knocks into your property (if we are on your property intentionally).

Please take your trash cart to the nearest public right of way to your house for Adams Sanitation to pickup.

Due to the high probability of getting stuck on dirt roads, we do not go on to private roads. Driving on private land, we’ve learned the hard way, leads to four and five-figure towing bills. 

This ensures that we know your trash cart is out for pickup and we dont miss you on one of our twice-weekly garbage days. 

Please don’t do this!

Even (mostly) empty or absolutely empty pressurized cans can explode when they are put under the pressure of our hydraulic compressor on the back of our garbage truck.

When this happens, it is like a grenade explodes in the back of the truck. It initially creates a shrapnel danger for our employees and can quickly morph into a fire danger.

Trash pickup is actually one of the most dangerous jobs in America, according to a recent report. (It’s number 5, after loggers, private pilots, oil derrick operators, and roofers). One of the reasons why it’s so dangerous – is because people put pressurized containers in the trash.

Putting animal carcasses in the trash violates the guidelines that Santa Rosa County and Okaloosa County have for trash disposal . For that reason we have to ask you to not throw rendered animal remains into your Adams Sanitation trash cart (or recycling cart…).

Also, It’s summer as we are writing this – and dead animals (which always smell bad) smell really bad right now. Also, maggots.

No.

Putting hot charcoals (or charcoals that ‘aren’t hot anymore’) in your trash cart is dangerous for you, your home and our trash carts. Hot charcoals can (and often do) melt trash carts, and these carts are made of plastic, and sniffing melting plastic fumes can’t be healthy for anyone.

Speaking of things that aren’t good for anyone – ever heard the term ‘dumpster fire’ used to describe something that has gone horribly, catastrophically wrong? That’s what happens when your trash in the trash cart catches fire too. We have seen trash carts catch fire before, and it ain’t pretty. It often also requires the fire department to come and put out said dumpster fire.

 

The Florida Department of Environmental Protection considers construction and demolition (C&D) debris to be building supplies that aren’t considered water soluble or hazardous in nature. This list includes:

  • Steel
  • Glass
  • Brick
  • Concrete
  • Asphalt
  • Pipe
  • Gypsum Wallboard
  • Lumber

These items, especially when they come from the construction or destruction of a building are considered construction debris. 

In addition, these organic items that are associate with construction and demolition sites are also considered C&D debris:

  • Rocks
  • Soils
  • Tree Remains
  • Trees
  • Vegitative Matter that comes from land clearing or development for construction. 
  • Clean cardboard, Paper, Plastic and Wood, when they come from construction sites.

If you consistently have more trash than one trash cart can hold, you can request a second can for $11 more per month. Complete our Contact Form to request a second can.

Adams provides our customers with 95-gallon cans.

We offer an optional every other week recycling program for an additional fee. Visit our Adams Sanitation Recycling page to learn more about this program. Or, stop by our 24/7 recycling drop-off station at our Baker office. Drop your recycling items in our recycling containers anytime, day or night, for free. All recycling items collected in Okaloosa County and Santa Rosa are taken to the Emerald Coast Utility Authority in Pensacola. For a complete list of what is acceptable and what is not, visit their website.

If you have a persistent bear buddy in your neighborhood we can outfit your cart with two bear-locks that help deter hungry bears from messing with your trash. The cost for these locks is $2 per month. Give us a call and we can get you set up! The number is 850.687.9305. 

Additionally, check out our tips to keep bears away from your home. 

 

The State of Florida  defines household hazardous waste (HHW) as something that is ignitable (flammable), corrosive, reactive or toxic. 

Some examples of HHW are:

  • Car batteries
  • Fluorescent bulbs
  • Gasoline
  • Household cleaners
  • Motor oils
  • Paint
  • Pesticides
  • Pool chemicals
  • Propane tanks
  • And some other items

The characteristic these items all have is that they are dangerous to people if they are exposed to them. According to the DEP, these materials can contaminate our drinking water and have long term health effects. For this reason, every county in Florida, including Okaloosa and Santa Rosa Counties, have a household hazardous waste program. Adams Sanitation isn’t permitted to pick-up Hazardous Waste as defined by Okaloosa County and Santa Rosa County – as well as the state of Florida.  

Okaloosa County Household Hazardous Waste Drop Off

The Okaloosa County Hazardous Household Waste Program is open for dropoffs to the public in two locations with different hours. The Fort Walton Beach area Household Hazardous Waste Program is open from Tuesday to Saturday between the hours of 7a-3p. The Fort Walton Beach Household Hazardous Waste drop off facility is located at 80 Ready Avenue in Fort Walton Beach. 

The Crestview Household Hazardous Waste drop off site is located at 1759 south ferdon boulevard. Its hours of operation are Monday through Friday from 7a-4p. 

Santa Rosa County Household Hazardous Waste Drop Off

Santa Rosa County has a single drop off point for HHW. This is located at the Santa Rosa County Landfill on 6337 Da Lisa Road, Milton, FL 32583. The HHW facility takes items from 7a-5p Monday through Saturday.

Not long at all! 

In our RapidCart delivery area – you can expect to have your trash cart at your house in two business days or less! 

For the rest of our service area – you can typically expect to have a cart at your home in 3-5 business days. 

Looking for what Adams Sanitation will do before and after a hurricane or tropical storm? Here’s our hurricane policy.

Contact Us

Having trouble finding an answer to your question?

Please call us at 850-537-3282 or submit your question using our Contact Us form.