Starting Monday, November 9, the collection route that picks up your recycling will also take your old winter coats. From Monday, November 9, through Friday, November 13, the City of Foster City and Recology San Mateo County are running Coats for Kids. Residents with curbside service set out a bag of coats on their regular collection day, and the driver takes it with everything else. If you don't have your own curbside service, or you miss your day, there are collection carts at Round Table Pizza in Marlin Cove and at Cookiez by Sara in the Edgewater Shopping Center through Friday, November 20.
So this drive asks very little of you. You don't make a special trip or look up a bin location. You just need a coat that's still in good shape and a bag with a label on it.
The Pickup That Already Comes to Your Street
Coats for Kids is built on Foster City's weekly collection. The City's October 21, 2026 announcement says it plainly:
"Residents with curbside service can place gently used or new coats in a paper or clear plastic bag labeled 'Coats for Kids' for free pick-up at the curb on their regularly scheduled collection day. Your collection provider will take it from there."
That makes it a week of ordinary routine with one extra bag at the curb on your regular recycling collection day, as the City's Coats for Kids event listing puts it. The City and Recology San Mateo County run the program together, and it's offered to Recology customers.
Despite the name, the drive takes more than children's coats. The City's notice says all sizes are needed, for children and adults. So the wool coat that hasn't fit since a few winters ago counts, and so does the parka you replaced last year.
Getting the Bag Right
The City's rules are short, and a few details decide whether a bag looks like a donation or like something left at the curb by mistake.
- Pick coats that are new or in excellent condition. The City asks for new or "gently used" coats in excellent shape.
- Use a paper or clear plastic bag. Those are the two bag types the announcement lists.
- Write "Coats for Kids" on the bag. The label is how the driver knows it's part of the program.
- Set it out on your regular collection day between November 9 and 13. The curbside window covers one collection week, Monday through Friday.
If you're not sure which day your street is picked up, Recology San Mateo County has a collection schedule lookup that works from your address.
Veterans Day Lands in the Middle of Collection Week
This year's curbside week includes Veterans Day on Wednesday, November 11. Recology San Mateo County's 2026 holiday calendar says drivers will run their normal routes that day, so Wednesday households set out their carts and their coat bags as usual.
The same calendar says the Recology call center and admin building will be closed for calls and walk-ins on Veterans Day. That matters because the City's notice sends questions about Coats for Kids to Recology's customer service line, (650) 595-3900. If you have a question about your pickup, call on Monday or Tuesday, not Wednesday. Foster City's own calendar also shows City Hall closed on November 11.
The Carts Moved Out of a City Building
The drop-off option is where this year's drive looks most different from earlier ones. In 2019, the City's notice, reprinted by Foster City Patch, put the collection carts in the Foster City Recreation Center at 650 Shell Boulevard, and they stayed out for one more week after curbside pickup ended.
For 2026, the carts are in two businesses, one in each of two neighborhood shopping centers:
| Option | Where | When |
|---|---|---|
| Curbside pickup | Your own curb | Your regular recycling collection day, Nov. 9–13 |
| Drop-off cart | Round Table Pizza, Marlin Cove Shopping Center, 1084 Foster City Blvd. | Regular business hours through Fri., Nov. 20 |
| Drop-off cart | Cookiez by Sara, Edgewater Shopping Center, 969 Edgewater Blvd. | Regular business hours through Fri., Nov. 20 |
Putting the carts in shops changes how people use them. You can drop off a coat on the way into a pizza dinner at Marlin Cove or on a cookie run in the Edgewater Shopping Center, during the hours those businesses are open. It also means the drop-off option runs a full week past curbside, which helps anyone who finds another coat in a closet after their pickup day.
The City lists three reasons to use the carts: you don't have curbside service, you missed your pickup date, or you'd rather drop off. The 2019 notice spelled out the first one more clearly, pointing anyone "in a housing complex that doesn't have individual curbside service" to the drop-off cart. Many Foster City condos, townhome communities and apartment buildings use shared bins, so the carts at Marlin Cove and Edgewater are the clearest way for those households to take part.
Where the Coats Go After Pickup
The 2026 announcement says donated coats will be delivered to local nonprofit agencies and given to people in need during the holiday season. It doesn't name the agencies.
Older coverage shows who has handed out the coats before. In 2012, Patch reported that Recology collected about 750 coats the previous year and distributed them through St. Anthony's and Samaritan House. In November 2020, InMenlo named the same two organizations as past distribution partners when the drive started in Menlo Park and Atherton. Those are past partners. This year's recipients haven't been announced.
The most recent total comes from a regional meeting. At a February 12, 2026 meeting of the RethinkWaste Technical Advisory Committee, a Recology San Mateo County representative reported that the November 2025 Coats for Kids program "collected over 600 items." The meeting minutes cover the whole drive across Recology San Mateo County's service area, not just Foster City, and they count items, not coats. Even so, the number gives a sense of scale. Across a service area that size, the drive brought in more than 600 items last November, so a few bags from one Foster City household make a real difference.
Before Monday
The timing works out. This weekend is a good time to go through the hall closet, now that the evenings are cooler and before the holiday rush. If you have a regular collection day, set out a labeled paper or clear plastic bag on that day during the week of November 9. If not, bring it to Round Table Pizza at 1084 Foster City Blvd. or Cookiez by Sara at 969 Edgewater Blvd. any time they're open through November 20.
Clearing out a closet is sometimes the first step toward a bigger change, like downsizing, a relocation, or getting a home ready to sell. If that's where you are, Julie Flouty can help you plan what stays, what goes and what to do first, with the same steady, organized approach she brings to every move on the Peninsula. Let's Connect.
