Cambridge Street Sweeping & Leaf Pickup

Featured image: Brown paper lawn bags filled with raked leaves, the type of bag Cambridge accepts for yard waste pickup. Photo: Wil540 art via Wikimedia Commons (CC BY-SA 4.0). The photo was not taken in Cambridge.

Cambridge street cleaning and yard waste pickup both run through the end of December, and late October is when leaves pile up fastest. This guide for Cambridge, Massachusetts residents covers the fall street sweeping schedule and $100 tickets, the November and December holiday changes, how to set out leaves for curbside yard waste collection, and how holidays shift trash day. It draws on City of Cambridge Department of Public Works (DPW) pages checked on Oct. 22, 2026.

Cambridge street cleaning schedule for fall 2026

The residential program sweeps both sides of every residential street once a month from April through December, using mechanical brooms. The 2026 season started on Wednesday, April 1. The city’s street cleaning page says sweeping ends for the winter on Dec. 31.

Each street has its own posted day and time window. To find yours, use the “My Schedule” lookup at CambridgeMA.gov/StreetCleaning. Type your address and the tool shows your dates. It also lets you sign up for email or text reminders, download the full year’s schedule or add it to a digital calendar.

DPW says to park again only after the posted time on the sign, even if you have already seen the sweeper pass. A sweeper may make a second pass, and the city schedules catch basin cleaning in the same window. Sweeping is rarely cancelled; the city lists extremely heavy rain or snow as the reasons it would be.

Street cleaning tickets: $100, no towing

Cambridge raised the street cleaning fine to $100 per violation starting the week of Sept. 1, 2024, after a home rule petition. In its March 24, 2026 season announcement, DPW said vehicles again will not be towed during street cleaning, but $100 tickets will be issued to cars that are not moved.

The city explained the change on its street cleaning page. During a 2023 pilot that suspended towing, tickets for street cleaning violations rose by an average of 93%, and DPW said cars left on the street force sweepers to steer around them and miss the curb, where leaves collect.

Holiday changes for October to December

The city lists these makeup dates for the rest of the season:

Veterans Day, Wednesday, Nov. 11: street cleaning rescheduled to Oct. 29.
Thanksgiving, Thursday, Nov. 26: rescheduled to Nov. 30.
Christmas, Friday, Dec. 25: rescheduled to Dec. 29.
Christmas Eve, Thursday, Dec. 24, and the day after Thanksgiving: no changes.

Cambridge yard waste pickup and leaf rules

The city collects yard waste for free every week from April 1 to Dec. 31 for residents who get city recycling collection. Yard waste is banned from Massachusetts landfills and incinerators. Rules from the Yard Waste Pick Up page:

Timing: set it out by 7 a.m. on your collection day, or after 6 p.m. the night before.
Containers: paper lawn bags, or barrels with a “Yard Waste Only” sticker facing the street. Barrels may not exceed 32 gallons or 50 pounds. No plastic bags, and do not staple or tape bags shut.
Accepted: leaves, grass, plants, twigs and prunings up to 1 inch thick and 3 feet long, and pumpkins.
Branches: tie limbs thicker than 1 inch into bundles no more than 3 feet long, up to three bundles a week, and put them next to the trash. Trash crews take them.
Not accepted: rocks, soil, dirt, sand or invasive plants.

Property owners must collect leaves and twigs from the sidewalk and curb next to their property, out to the center of the street. Sweeping or blowing leaves into the street is prohibited. Free stickers are available at CambridgeMA.Gov/RecycleSupplies or at DPW, 147 Hampshire St.

If your yard waste is missed, report it by 9 a.m. the next day at CambridgeMA.Gov/311 or by voicemail at 617-349-4800, and leave it at the curb. After pickup ends on Dec. 31, the city asks residents to hold yard waste until collection resumes April 1.

Trash day after a holiday

Cambridge trash, recycling, food waste and yard waste pickup runs one day behind schedule in a week with a holiday. Carts may go out after 6 p.m. the night before or by 7 a.m. on collection day. Trash in plastic bags may go out only on the morning of collection. Containers must be off the curb by 6 p.m. Look up your day with the city’s “Get Rid of It Right” tool on the Curbside Collections page.

More Cambridge guides

Additional details

The street sweeping program dates to 1885. The city says it removes 1,500 to 2,000 tons of litter, leaves and sediment each year, which keeps that material out of the Charles River and Alewife Brook and helps prevent street flooding.
In fall 2024, DPW collected 15,000 barrels of yard waste, or 833 tons of leaves, the department said in October 2025. Collected yard waste is composted.
Squares such as Harvard and Central are cleaned daily: weekdays 7 a.m. to 3 p.m., and weekends and holidays early in the morning.
Christmas trees are collected on trash day during the first two weeks of January. They must be bare and unbagged.
Since Nov. 3, 2025, Casella Waste Systems has collected Cambridge recycling and yard waste under a five-year contract. The city said residents would see no major service changes.
DPW contact: 617-349-4800, theworks@cambridgema.gov.

Sources

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Cambridge Street Cleaning and Leaf Season 2026: Sweeping Schedule, Yard Waste and Holiday Trash