New Trash Carts Are Landing on Hinsdale Curbs. The Real Test Is Leaf Season.

Flood Brothers started dropping off new refuse and recycling carts across Hinsdale on Monday, October 19, and delivery runs through October 31. Republic Services, which has held the village contract since 2007, makes its final pickups on Monday, October 26 and Thursday, October 29.

Flood's first collection week is also the first week of the village's free fall leaf program, and the leaf program's six weeks match Flood's first six weeks almost exactly. A new crew will be learning Hinsdale's streets and alleys while parkways fill with kraft paper bags. Hinsdale households will also be juggling three different deadlines at the same curb.

The overlap week, day by day

The village's transition notice lays out a sequence. For about a week, many curbs will hold two sets of carts.

1. October 19 to 31: Flood delivers one refuse cart and one recycling cart to each household. Sizes match your current Republic carts. Deliveries run 7 a.m. to 7 p.m., and crews will not reach every house on the same day.
2. Through November 1: The new Flood carts stay unused. The village asks residents not to use them until after November 1, and Flood's first pickup is November 2.
3. Monday, October 26 or Thursday, October 29: Republic makes its final pickup, depending on your route.
4. After that last pickup: The empty Republic carts stay at the curb. Flood collects them, and the village says removal may take several days.
5. Monday, November 2: Flood's first regular collection. The contract itself starts November 1, which is a Sunday.

Flood's welcome letter covers one more case. If both of your next-door neighbors have new carts and you still don't, contact Flood at (630) 261-0400.

Collection days don't change. Homes south of the railroad tracks stay on Monday, and homes north of the tracks stay on Thursday.

Flood's first six weeks are the village's six leaf weeks

The village's leaf collection page has already been updated to name Flood Brothers as the hauler, so it reflects this fall's program. It sets the program at six weeks, starting the week of November 1 and ending the week of December 6, with leaves picked up on your regular weekly day. Here's what those six weeks look like on the 2026 calendar:

The Thanksgiving row follows Flood's holiday rule. When a holiday falls on a weekday, pickups on or after it move back one day, and Thanksgiving Day is on Flood's holiday list. Thanksgiving is Thursday, November 26, so north-of-tracks pickup that week moves to Friday.

The leaf program is free and unlimited. Leaves have to be in kraft paper yard waste bags, set in the parkway along the curb. Plastic bags won't be picked up, and leaves can't go in the street. Each bag can hold up to 34 gallons or 60 pounds.

The village also plans for heavy weeks. Its leaf page says collection may run behind at times, with Monday routes finishing on Tuesday, for example. It promises every household one collection in each of the six weeks. In a normal year, that's a note about volume. This year, it applies to a hauler working Hinsdale's routes for the first time. Flood CEO Kevin Flood told trustees in May that he expected a smooth handover. Patch reported that he pointed to two dozen town transitions since 2020 and a good working relationship with Republic.

Three deadlines on the same curb

Under Republic, most of these deadlines were already part of the weekly routine. Flood resets one of them and adds a seasonal cutoff in the middle of leaf season.

• 6 a.m. for leaf bags. The village's leaf program wants bags at the curb by 6:00 a.m. on pickup day.
• 7 a.m. for carts. Flood says it may collect at a different time of day than Republic did, so refuse and recycling carts must be at the curb or alley by 7:00 a.m. If you used to roll the carts out after breakfast, that habit may no longer work.
• November 30 for other yard waste. Flood's Hinsdale service page lists weekly yard waste and food scrap collection from April 1 through November 30. The free leaf weeks run past that date, into the week of December 6. Only leaves are free. The village says all other yard waste needs a yard waste sticker.

Under Flood's rate sheet, a landscape waste sticker costs $3.55. Households that want a dedicated cart can rent a 65-gallon landscape waste and organics cart for $22.75 a month or a 95-gallon cart for $29 a month. Sticker bags and containers can't exceed 35 gallons or 50 pounds. Brush has to be tied in bundles no longer than four feet and no wider than two feet across, with no branch thicker than three inches. That matters for the last round of fall cleanup, when many yards produce branches as well as leaves.

The village also suggests another option. You can keep leaves on your property and compost them for mulch, which the Village Forester highly recommends.

How the new carts want to be set out

Flood's trucks pick up carts with a mechanical arm, and its collection tips sheet is specific about placement. Set carts within 18 inches of the curb, with the short metal bar facing the street and the lid closed. Leave three feet between each cart and anything nearby, and keep carts out from under low branches.

Leaf season makes the three-foot rule harder to follow. The parkway that holds your carts is also where the village wants your leaf bags. If bags are packed tight around the carts, the arm has no room to work.

Flood takes recycling all in one cart. That includes clean, dry paper and cardboard, aluminum and steel cans, glass, plastic bottles and jugs numbered 1 through 5 or 7, and milk and juice cartons. Keep recyclables loose and out of bags. Flood's recycling guide keeps plastic grocery bags, Styrofoam, K-cups, paper coffee cups and snack wrappers out of the recycling cart.

Each week you can also put out one bulk item on your main refuse day at no extra charge. Each additional item needs a prepaid sticker. For anything over 50 pounds, contact Flood at least 24 hours ahead.

What the switch costs, and why it happened in the fall

The November start comes from the bid. Patch reported in May that Hinsdale put the contract out to bid late last year, after sticking with Republic in 2023 without a competitive process. That year, then-Village President Tom Cauley said he wanted to go to bid in three years. Patch also reported that he had said the village didn't have enough time to do it in that round. Five companies bid: Flood Brothers, Republic, Groot, LRS and SBC. The board picked Flood on June 30, with a start date of November 1.

Here's how the price compares to what households pay now. Patch cited a village memo saying Flood's proposal came in about 2 percent below Republic's. Flood also offered first-year cuts of 6 to 9 percent below Republic's current rates for the most common service levels, followed by average increases of 3.5 percent in years two and three. On 65-gallon monthly service, Flood's third-year price was about 60 cents below what Republic was charging at the time of the bid.

Flood's posted Hinsdale rates for November 1, 2026 through October 31, 2027 show what that looks like on a bill.

The rate sheet also lists senior rates of $19.25 for a 35-gallon cart and $21.50 for a 65-gallon cart, curbside. Twice-weekly customers get full refuse and recycling service on their main day, plus a refuse-only pickup on the opposite day.

Did your new carts arrive in the wrong size? The original cart-size deadlines have passed. The village moved the deadline from September 25 to October 5 after some residents got the mailer late. Once Flood takes over November 1, you can request a different size at any time during the contract.

This is general information, not legal or financial advice. Check your own rates and service details with Flood Brothers at (630) 261-0400 or Hinsdale Public Services at (630) 789-7042.

At Second City Agents, we pay attention to the details that shape a Hinsdale week, right down to curbside pickup times. If a closing, a move or a renovation puts your household in the middle of this changeover, schedule a free market consultation and we'll help you plan around it.