Baltimoreans will need to put out their trash and recycling bins an hour earlier starting Tuesday, as the city adjusts its collection schedule to keep public works employees safe from the heat.
“Starting collections earlier helps protect the health and safety of our workers without disrupting service to residents,” said Matthew Garbark, acting director of the Baltimore City Department of Public Works.
Trash and recycling collection, which previously began at 6 a.m., will now start at 5 a.m. The earlier start time will continue through Sept. 30.
Collection days will remain unchanged. To check your trash and recycling collection days, click here.
The change comes as Baltimore City is under a Code Red Extreme Heat Alert on Tuesday.
To ensure their trash and recycling gets picked up, residents will have to set out their bins by 5 a.m. on their regular collection day. Better yet, city officials said, set them out the night before your collection day.
The change is part of DPW’s Heat Illness Prevention Plan, including heat safety training, hydration protocols, and summer schedule adjustments.
The plan’s implementation follows the death of Ronald Silver II, a Baltimore sanitation worker who died in August 2024 after he overheated during his trash collection route.
A report by Baltimore City’s inspector general found that several warning signs were missed leading up to Silver’s death on a day on which temperatures reached 100 degrees and the heat index reached about 108 degrees.
Inadequate air conditioning inside the truck cab, exhaust increasing the temperature for workers behind the truck, higher than normal workload, and fear of retaliation for resting also contributed to Silver’s death, the report found.
A separate report by the Maryland Occupational Safety and Health agency confirmed findings from the inspector general’s report.
Maryland’s new heat standard went into effect in September 2024, requiring that all workers have access to at least 32 ounces of water and shaded rest breaks if temperatures surpass 80 degrees. Workers must also undergo training to prevent and recognize symptoms of heat illness.
The standard requires longer and more frequent breaks as the heat index reaches 90 and 100 degrees.
