The operations of the Street Department are supervised by the Director of Public Works, George Bartlett. The Director oversees the regular maintenance of Belle Meade streets and rights-of-way as well as supervises contracted capital projects such as street re-surfacing and drainage infrastructure improvements. The Director is responsible for the maintenance and installation of all street signage.
The City sub-contracts for additional services that fall under the jurisdiction of the Streets Department, including Trash & Recycle Collection, Brush Collection & Chipper Service, Snow Removal, Street Sweeping, and Landscape Maintenance for City properties.
If a resident has questions concerning street maintenance issues or any of the contracted services listed above, we ask that you call the Public Works Director or City Hall administrative offices at 297-6041. Listed below are the current schedules and information about the City’s trash and recycle collection and brush and chipper services.
Chipper Service is contracted separately from garbage pick-up and occurs on Monday, Wednesday and Friday of each week. The chipper service is designed for pickup of grass, shrubbery, cuttings, tree leaves, small tree branches, bushes, fruits, or any other matter usually created in the care of lawns and gardens. Tree trimmings shall have a trunk not to exceed four (4) inches in diameter, and shall be no more than eight (8) feet in length or six (6) feet across in the lap or crown. Twigs, leaves, small debris, and grass clippings shall be bagged, bag weight not to exceed 50 pounds. If a homeowner has contracted with a tree removal service to cut down large trees on their property, the homeowner is responsible for removal of the tree and related debris. The City chipper service is not set up to provide this service. Your pickup day will depend upon which street you live.
Back door garbage pickup is provided once a week, on Thursday or Friday, depending on your address. All solid waste garbage and trash shall be collected from standard containers (any watertight metal or plastic container with handles or bails, having a tight-fitting cover and containing a volume of 32 gallons or under, weighing no more than 50 pounds), no more than three in number, and from recyclable containers, special containers, or special waste receptacles, placed at the back door of residences or at a place designated by the residents that is accessible from the driveway, as long as they are not in an enclosed garage or other building. PDQ requires trash to be put in WHITE, CLEAR, or GREY bags so as not to confuse it with the recycle waste in BLACK bags. Be sure all waste is inside the cans or it will not be picked up. If you are new to the neighborhood and are not sure of your pick-up days, call City Hall at 297-6041.
Recyclables are picked up on the same day as your trash service, Thursday or Friday depending on your address. Your recycle container, which the city provided, must be lined with a BLACK plastic bag - no exceptions! You can put all accepted items, as listed below, in the recycle containter together, unbagged, except glass. Glass bottles and jars must be bagged separately. If put in loose, it will contaminate all recycables. Please rinse cans before putting them in your container, as some materials may sit in your container for a week. You may purchase a second container for $18.50 through City Hall. To maximize the use of your container, you will want to break down all large cardboard boxes and set them beside your container.
PAPER - office paper, magazines, junk mail, newspaper, computer paper, notebook paper phone books, paperback books, construction paper, brown paper bags. BOXES - milk or juice cartons (empty), cardboard boxes, food boxes (clean - no food). All large boxes should be broken down and placed by your recycle container. PLASTICS - #1-7: drink bottles and their caps, detergent & cleaner bottles and their caps, yogurt/cottage cheese and other dairy "tubs" and their lids (please empty containers) and plastic trays, such as the lunchable type containers (any color except black trays - optical sorting machines can't see them). METAL/ALUMINUM CANS - empty food and drink cans, foils and trays.
GLASS BOTTLES AND JARS - All glass must be separated out and collectively placed in a different bag then placed inside the black bag lined recycled container.
DO NOT RECYCLE: plastic bags, black plastic trays, clamshells (fast food take out), styrofoam, paint cans, aerosol cans, egg cartons.
Household discards such as toys, broken items or items too large to fit inside your weekly trash receptacle may be placed in the three dumpsters located directly behind City Hall. Items such as paint cans, batteries, yard waste, mattresses, furniture, and construction debris cannot be placed in these dumpsters. Please call the Metro East Center off of Trinity Lane (862-8631) for more information regarding these items.
Click to download or print the Permit to Cut Streets