Fire Safety
The city of Knoxville provides fire safety services through the Knoxville Fire Department. All emergency calls are handled through the 911 emergency center. You can get more information about the fire department at the city’s website.

Household Garbage Collection
The city of Knoxville provides each household with one 95-gallon garbage cart at no cost. Only the cart provided by the city may be used for garbage collection via the city’s contractor, Waste Connections. The cart lid must be fully closed with no additional bags placed on the lid or next to the cart. The weekly collection date for Old North Knoxville is Friday. Per city ordinance, trash carts must be set out at the street or alley no earlier than 6 p.m. the day before collection and no later than 7 a.m. collection day. Trash carts must be retrieved by 9 p.m. on collection day. You can get more information about household garbage collection at the city’s website.

The city contractor for household trash will make pickups as regularly scheduled on most holidays during the year except for the following: New Year’s Day, Martin Luther King Jr. Day, Fourth of July, Labor Day, Thanksgiving Day, and Christmas Day, when they will pickup on the following work day after the holiday. If regularly scheduled pickup falls on one of these designated holidays, collections will resume on the next working day after the holiday. Each day after, for that week, collections will be one day behind schedule. For example, if the holiday falls on Monday the collection for Monday will take place on Tuesday. Tuesday’s materials will be picked up on Wednesday and so on.

Recycling
If you have a recycling cart from the city, recyclable materials are collected every other week on the normal trash collection day. For 2017 in Old North Knoxville, recycling is picked up every other Friday beginning Friday, January 6, 2017. You can also refer to this recycling pickup calendar where Old North Knoxville’s pickup is the “A” weeks in blue. Your recycling cart should be placed at the street or alley following the same timetable as your household trash. If you do not have a city recycling cart, you can drop off your recycling at any of the city’s five recycling center. You can find out more about the recycling center locations and hours at the city’s website.

Bulky Waste Collection
The city of Knoxville offers weekly pick-up of “bulky waste” on the same day as regular household garbage collection. Bulky waste is defined as household items that cannot be placed in a garbage can because of size, shape or weight. Acceptable items include: Appliances, furniture, tires, carpet that is bundled and tied in 2 foot diameter by 4 foot to 6 foot length sections, and other items that do not fit into a standard 32-gallon garbage can. You can set out up to five self-contained or bundled items per household, per week. Please note that construction debris and building materials are explicitly not allowed. You can get more information about bulky waste collection at the city’s website.

Brush And Leaf Collection
The Public Service Department crews collect brush and other household yard waste every other week from February through November on pre-set, fixed schedules. You can call the Knoxville customer service department at 311 if you need a detailed brush collection schedule. Yard waste should be placed next to the street in an unobstructed area and kept separate from other trash. On each two-week cycle, one 6′ x 6′ x 6′ pile of brush can be collected. You can get more information about brush collection at the city’s website.

During the annual fall leaf collection season, which runs from November 1 through February 1, brush pick-up is suspended. The Public Service Department crews will visit your neighborhood several times to vacuum your loose leaves. Please rake your leaves to the edge of the street in an unobstructed area for easy collection. They should be placed in piles at the curb rather than in rows. Leaves raked to the alley are collected last. The plastic bags used to hold bagged leaves compromise the mulching process, therefore bagged leaves are collected separately in January. But remember, up to five bulky items can be placed by your garbage can each week for collection, and this includes bagged leaves. You can get more information about leaf collection at the city’s website.

Street Sweeping
The city Public Service Department sweeps streets in Old North Knoxville on an as needed basis. You do not need to move cars that are parked on the street for street sweeping. You can get more information about street sweeping at the city’s website.