Longview Recycling Pickup: Your Day, the Blue Cart Rules and Thanksgiving Changes

If you live in Longview and you are not sure which day the blue cart goes out, you are not alone. People search for it more than you might think.

So I went straight to the City of Longview's own pages and pulled the answer into one place. Here is what the city says right now.

Your recycling day

The rule is simple. Per the city's Residential recycling page:

• Trash Monday, recycling Tuesday.
• Trash Tuesday, recycling Wednesday. And so on through the week.
• Put the blue cart out on recycling day, not trash day. The city says carts set out early on trash day will not be picked up until the following day.
• Timing: carts go out no earlier than 7 p.m. the night before collection, and come in by 11 p.m. on collection day.

Not sure of your trash day? The city has a Collection Days Interactive Map where you can look it up.

The same page says homes that get a City of Longview water bill receive two 95-gallon carts: a blue lid for loose, approved recyclables, and a black lid for everything else.

What goes in the blue cart

The city's list is short, and it is worth taping inside a kitchen cabinet:

Yes:

• Plastics #1, #2 and #5: clean jugs, bottles and tubs, empty of liquids and food
• Metal cans: clean aluminum and steel food and beverage cans
• Paper and cardboard: clean boxboard, newspapers, office paper, flattened boxes

Never:

• Plastic bags and film. The city says they jam the processing machinery, so keep recyclables loose and do not bag them.
• Plastics #3, #4, #6 and #7
• Glass
• Styrofoam, clothing, wood or yard waste
• Food residue or liquids

Glass has its own place. The city says glass bottles and jars can be dropped off at the City Compost Site and select collection points around Longview.

Thanksgiving week is different

Thanksgiving is Thursday, November 26. The city's 2026 holiday collection schedule lists these changes:

• Trash: no pickup Thursday. Thursday's pickup moves to Friday.
• Recycling: no pickup Thursday. Wednesday's recycling moves to Friday, and Thursday's recycling moves to Saturday.
• Yard waste: Thursday's pickup moves to Friday.
• Bulky pickup: Wednesday's moves to Friday, and Thursday's moves to Saturday.
• Compost Facility: closed Thursday, November 26 and Friday, November 27.

Christmas week has changes too. The same page says there is no recycling or bulky pickup on Friday, December 25, and Thursday's moves to Saturday. New Year's Day, Friday, January 1, works the same way.

If you have family coming in for Thanksgiving and a lot of boxes to break down, that Saturday pickup is worth writing on the calendar.

A way to help: the Blue Crew

Here is the part I like most.

The city's Blue Crew page says that before the local recycling pause, Longview was keeping 300 tons of recyclables out of the landfill every month. The city says recycling today is cleaner than ever, but it is only reaching about 10 percent of that goal.

So the city is asking residents to help. The Blue Crew is free to join. Members get a recycling kit, sanitation updates and tips by email, and are eligible for the city's monthly "Bin It to Win It" cash giveaway. The city says you can sign up with its online form on that page, or call Public Works at 903-237-2735.

Members also help educate fellow residents and share materials in their neighborhoods, according to the Residential page.

Help a neighbor with it

Plenty of folks on your street would recycle if somebody just told them how it works now. An older neighbor. A family that just moved in. A widow who used to let her husband handle the carts.

Print the list above. Walk it over. Offer to roll the blue cart out the night before if they cannot.

That is a small thing. Small things are how a town takes care of itself.

Questions? The city's Sanitation Department is at 903-237-1250, and that is also the number for bulky item pickup. The Compost Site is open Tuesday through Saturday, 8:00 a.m. to 4:30 p.m., and the city notes hours may vary during holidays.