Trash & Recycling Removal: the full procedure

A procedure for collecting waste by stream, replacing liners, sorting recycling, and transporting it to the dock, routing any biohazard or sharps to the proper SOP.

• Applies to: Janitorial cleaner.
• Frequency: Every shift / each serviced area.
• Scope: Covers routine office trash and recycling removal. Any blood, sharps, or regulated/biohazard waste is out of scope and must be routed to the bloodborne/regulated-waste SOP and OSHA bloodborne-pathogens requirements.

What you need

• Gloves
• Waste cart or barrel
• Trash & recycling liners
• Separate recycling bags / bins
• Hand sanitizer

The procedure, step by step

1. Glove up & stage cart — Put on gloves and bring a cart with fresh liners and a separate recycling container so streams stay apart from the start.
2. Collect by stream — Empty trash and recycling separately — never combine them — so recyclables aren’t contaminated and sent to landfill.
3. Watch for hazards — Do NOT compress or reach blindly into bags; if you spot sharps, needles, or blood/biohazard, STOP and follow the regulated-waste SOP — OSHA treats these as regulated waste.
4. Replace liners — Fit a fresh liner in every emptied bin, sized correctly and cuffed over the rim so it stays seated.
5. Sort recycling — Keep paper, cans/bottles, and other streams separated per the building’s program; pull obvious trash out of recycling bins.
6. Tie off & load — Securely tie each bag before lifting to avoid spills, and load the cart without overfilling.
7. Transport to dock — Move waste and recycling to the correct dumpster or recycling container at the dock, keeping streams separate to the end.
8. Sanitize & reset — Wipe visibly soiled bins, return the cart, remove gloves, and sanitize hands before moving on.

Quality check before you finish

• Trash and recycling kept separate throughout.
• Every emptied bin received a correctly sized fresh liner.
• No sharps/biohazard handled — routed to proper SOP if found.
• Recycling sorted per building program, no obvious contamination.
• Bags tied securely, no leaks or spills on route.
• Waste delivered to correct dock containers by stream.
• Bins wiped, cart returned, hands sanitized.

This is a free, source-anchored standard operating procedure (SOP) you can print and hand to staff. It documents the work sequence for a Commercial / Office Cleaning business — not safety or regulatory rulings, which defer to the cited authorities, the applicable code, and your own health-and-safety plan. Open the tool above to print it, toggle ink-saver, or (with a free ToolFluency Business account) edit it to match your own workflow.

Sources

• OSHA 29 CFR 1910.1030 — Regulated Waste & Sharps (osha.gov)
• EPA — Waste Management Hierarchy (epa.gov)
• ISSA — Custodial Waste-Removal Best Practice (issa.com)