Rocheport Seeks Trash Bids as County Recycling Stays Shut

The City of Rocheport is taking bids on its trash collection contract through Dec. 1, and the drop-off recycling that Boone County used to run is still suspended. Here is how trash, large items and recycling work in town right now, and who to call.

The trash contract

In a notice posted Sept. 4, the city said it is accepting bids for trash collection services, with bids due by Dec. 1, 2026. The notice does not give the contract term, the pickup frequency or whether recycling is part of the job. It says to contact City Hall for details. City Hall is at 703 First St., (573) 698-3245.

The current hauler is T-Mac Solid Waste Inc. of Columbia, at 6600 Stephens Station Road, which describes itself as locally owned and in business for more than 40 years. The city’s new-resident page lists T-Mac as Rocheport’s trash service. Trash is billed by the Boone County Regional Sewer District on the same bill as sewer, through the district’s own billing portal; it is no longer billed through Boone Electric Cooperative, as the city’s page still says. T-Mac’s office number is 573-814-2844, according to the city’s frequently called numbers page.

The city’s notices put regular pickup on Mondays. When Labor Day fell on Monday, Sept. 7, the city posted that T-Mac would not run that day and would pick up on Tuesday, Sept. 8, instead. Expect the same one-day shift after other Monday holidays.

Large items

The city and T-Mac held the fall Large Item Pick-Up Day on Monday, Oct. 19. Items had to be at the curb by 7 a.m. The accepted list covered mattresses and box springs, furniture, washers and dryers, refrigerators and freezers with the refrigerant removed first, microwaves, ranges, water heaters and other large appliances. Tires were taken only if cut into quarters or shredded, because the landfill will not take whole tires. Yard waste, construction and remodeling debris, car batteries, oil, wet paint and gasoline were not accepted. The city holds two large-item days a year, in April and October. The spring 2027 date has not been posted yet.

Recycling: no drop-off for now

The city’s new-resident page still says Rocheport’s recycling container sits across from City Hall and points to Boone County’s recycling program. The county’s recycling page now says the program is suspended and that “all recycle bins at the drop-off locations have been removed” after a tornado destroyed the processing plant.

That was the EF-1 tornado of April 20, 2025, which wrecked Columbia’s Material Recovery Facility at the landfill in northeast Columbia. Boone County suspended its drop-off program because most of the county’s recycling went through that plant, ABC 17 News reported at the time. Columbia restarted weekly curbside recycling for its own customers on June 15, 2026, but its eight drop-off centers, which had been open to anyone, remain closed until further notice, according to the city’s solid waste page. No construction date is set for a new plant. ABC 17 reported in July that work could begin toward the end of 2026.

That page is out of date: the container is no longer across from City Hall. Until the county says otherwise, there is no public recycling drop-off in Rocheport or in Columbia.

What you can still do

• Glass: Columbia’s landfill at 5700 Peabody Road has free Ripple Glass drop-off bins. Enter by the scalehouse ramp. The landfill is open 7 a.m. to 3 p.m. weekdays and 8 a.m. to 1 p.m. Saturdays.
• Household hazardous waste: Columbia’s collection at 1313 Lakeview Ave. runs the first and third Saturdays, 8 a.m. to noon, from April through October. The last 2026 date was Oct. 17, so the next one is in spring. The city describes it as a service for residential customers; Rocheport residents should call Columbia’s contact center at 573-874-2489 before hauling anything there.
• Questions about the county program: Boone County Resource Management, (573) 886-4330 or resmgt@boonemo.gov.

The rest of the utility list

The city’s frequently called numbers page lists water from Consolidated Public Water Supply District No. 1 (573-449-0324), electricity from Boone Electric Cooperative (573-449-4181), sewer from the Boone County Regional Sewer District (573-443-2774) and gas from Ameren (800-552-7583). Boone Electric is the member-owned co-op that supplies Rocheport’s power. The Times covered its annual meeting ballot in September and the Rocheport-area board seat that was decided there.

By Roman Clarkson