Gloucester carts bunched at the curb on Casella's first pickup day. Here's how to set them out

Thursday, Oct. 1, was the first day Casella's automated trucks emptied Gloucester's new carts. Driving through the city that day, a Cape Ann Current editor saw many trash and recycling carts set right next to each other at the curb, often with only inches between them.

That is the most common setup mistake, and it is the one Casella and the city warn about most. The trucks lift each cart with a mechanical arm that reaches out from the side of the truck. The arm needs room on both sides of a cart to grab it. The city and Casella ask for 3 feet between your two carts, and 3 feet between each cart and anything else nearby.

For a sense of scale, a 65-gallon Gloucester cart is 26.7 inches wide. The gap Casella wants is wider than the cart itself.

We asked Casella on Thursday whether carts set too close together were skipped, whether crews will tag or move carts the way the company does in some other towns it serves, and how the first day went. We will add its answer here.

Drag the carts, turn them around and park a car at the curb. Then send the truck.

The rules, in order

From the City of Gloucester's trash FAQ and Casella's placement guide:

1. 3 feet apart. Set the trash cart and recycling cart side by side along the curb, with at least 3 feet between them. Never back to back, one behind the other.
2. 3 feet from everything else. Keep each cart 3 feet from parked cars, trees, poles, fire hydrants, mailboxes and utility boxes. Do not lean anything against a cart.
3. 1 foot from the curb. Gloucester asks for carts one foot back from the curb. Casella's general guide sets an outer limit of 6 feet from the edge of the curb. Do not block the sidewalk.
4. Face the street. The arrows on the lid point toward the street. The handle and wheels face your house.
5. Clear overhead. Casella asks for 15 feet of clearance above the cart, away from low branches and wires, because the arm lifts the cart over the truck.
6. Lid closed. Everything must fit inside with the lid fully closed. Bags left beside a cart are not collected.
7. Flat, level ground. Keep carts on a hard, level spot, clear of snow and yard debris, and upright.
8. Timing. Out no earlier than 4 p.m. the day before and no later than 7 a.m. on pickup day. Bring them back in the same day.
9. Kids. The city asks parents to keep children from playing in or around the carts.

In some towns Casella serves, crews out ahead of the trucks in the first weeks moved badly placed carts and left an orange "OOPS!" tag explaining why. Casella has not said whether it will do that in Gloucester.

What goes in which cart

Recycling in Gloucester is single stream: paper, cardboard, plastic bottles and tubs, cans and glass jars all go loose in the same cart. Never put recyclables in a plastic bag. Casella says bagged recyclables cannot be sorted.

Casella also asks that containers be empty and rinsed, that caps go back on bottles, and that cardboard be broken down so the lid closes. Anything smaller than 2 to 3 inches, like loose caps or plastic forks, is too small for the sorting machines.

One note on batteries: the city's FAQ says ordinary alkaline batteries can go in household trash, but Casella's Gloucester page says no batteries of any kind in either cart, because they can start fires. The safe choice is to keep them out of both. Rechargeable and lithium batteries can go to the DPW or to Home Depot.

Cart sizes

Cart	Height	Width	Depth	Holds about
65 gallon	41.3 in	26.7 in	28.1 in	5 tall kitchen bags
35 gallon	39.1 in	20.2 in	22.9 in	3 large kitchen bags

Standard service, a 65-gallon trash cart and a 65-gallon recycling cart, is $300 a year on the utility bill. The 35-gallon trash cart is $200 a year. Extra carts cost $75 each plus $200 or $300 a year in service, and the city plans to reopen its extra cart request form Oct. 5. Sample carts are on display at City Hall, the Rose Baker Center for Aging Well and Cape Ann Veterans Services.

Old barrels and bins

The city says it will put a roll-off container at the DPW yard so residents can get rid of old trash barrels and recycling bins. It has not set dates or hours yet. Until then, the city says old barrels can be kept and reused for yard waste. We have asked the DPW when the drop-off will open and will post it here.

What Casella charges for bulk items

Anything too big for a cart is booked and paid for directly with Casella. Bulk items are collected Fridays and appliances monthly. Furniture items like a bureau, chair, table or toilet are $55 each. A sofa, TV, washer, dryer, stove or other large appliance is $75. Tires start at $20.

How Gloucester's trash compares

Gloucester throws away less than most Massachusetts communities. In 2025, still on purple bags, the city's program collected about 6,712 tons of trash from 13,750 households, according to the city's report to the state Department of Environmental Protection. That works out to about 976 pounds per household.

That is below the statewide median of about 1,220 pounds across the 275 towns that reported trash tonnage, and below MassDEP's 2025 averages for both pay as you throw towns (1,094 pounds) and towns without it (1,597 pounds).

Gloucester's recycling was about 437 pounds per household, and recycling made up about 31% of what the city's program collected, compared with a statewide median of about 27%.

MassDEP has long found that towns charging by the bag or barrel throw away less. Gloucester's new system replaces per-bag fees with an annual fee set by cart size.

Who to call

• City DPW, for billing, cart sizes, swaps and missed pickups: (978) 325-5600, or [email protected]
• Casella, for bulk items, appliances and carts damaged by collection: 1-800-CASELLA (800-227-3552)
• Our Oct. 1 story on the new contract and fees: Casella takes over Gloucester trash pickup Thursday as purple bags end