For twenty years REC has organized hundreds of clean-ups with neighborhood residents in Worcester. Every Earth Day, REC organizes a big, city-wide clean-ups (learn more about the Earth Day clean-ups). Many of those clean-ups have taken place in sites where illegal dumping laws have historically not been enforced. REC works with people to reclaim spaces to create community gardens and parks in abandoned lots previously used as dumping grounds. 

Neighborhood residents in Main South have come together to form a Trash Action working group actively engaged in thinking and acting collectively making cleaner neighborhoods. The group currently is working on three efforts:

1. Outreach and education to Spanish and English speaking residents about neighborhood problems of litter and trash as well as city waste disposal, and recycling services.
2. Bulk waste collection days throughout the neighborhood to make it possible for residents to dispose of large trash items. Read the report on our first bulk waste collection day, June 9, 2007.

General Trash and Recycling Information
Reciclando en Worcester (información en español) (PDF 304KB)
City Trash Bag Retailers (PDF 14KB)
Holiday Collection Schedule

Bulk Waste Pick-Up
Bulk Waste Residential Dropoff Center
Tips and Reminders

Composting Information
Keep Worcester Clean Program
Report litter to the City of Worcester

Download a one-page summary of the trash, recylcing, and bulk waste guidelines here.
Clean Streets, Safe Neighborhoods flyer (PDF 141KB)
Calles Limpias, Barrios Seguros flyer (PDF 142KB)

REC's Neighborhood Waste Collection Days: Since 2005,  REC has organized two hazardous waste day pick ups and one bulk waste pick-up during which neighborhood volunteers in Main South and Piedmont have picked up and removed hazardous waste from people’s homes. Our research shows most people in Worcester’s inner city do not know where the drop-off site for waste is (Millbury Street, formerly known as Ballard Street), nor do they know that Hazardous Waste Day exists or how to register to take hazardous or bulk waste to the drop-off site. Even if they did have this information, many people would not, due to transportation barriers, be able to get their waste there.

REC’s bulk and hazardous waste collection days have both helped people remove waste, much of it hazardous, from their homes, and they have helped to educate residents about the City’s waste collection system.