Waste Collection Schedule in HomeAssistant

calendar Mar 14, 2025 · 3 min read · homeassistant waste-collection

Overview

Sometimes, I totally forget to take out the garbage bins. And around here, the rule is simple: if your bins aren’t on the sidewalk, the garbage truck just cruises by like a VIP limo ignoring peasants.

When we first moved in, I forgot to take out the recycling bags (Gelber Sack) three times in a row. This resulted in a majestic mountain of 25 bags filled with plastic, empty cat food cans, and my dignity.

To avoid turning my house into a landfill, I’m using the Waste Collection Schedule via HACS. Since I like keeping my data and my trash collection local, I downloaded the ICS file from the city’s waste management service and share it through a filebrowser container so Home Assistant can grab it.

Now, I have three trusty sensor entities keeping me on track:

  • sensor.restabfall
  • sensor.gelber_sack
  • sensor.papier

configuration.yaml

1waste_collection_schedule:
2  sources:
3    - name: ics
4      args:
5        url: !secret waste_collection_ics_url
6        offset: 0
7      calendar_title: Waste Collection

sensors.yaml

 1- platform: waste_collection_schedule
 2  name: Restabfall
 3  value_template: "{% if value.daysTo == 0 %}Today{% elif value.daysTo == 1 %}Tomorrow{% else %}in {{value.daysTo}} days{% endif %}"
 4  types:
 5    - Restabfall
 6- platform: waste_collection_schedule
 7  name: Gelber Sack
 8  value_template: "{% if value.daysTo == 0 %}Today{% elif value.daysTo == 1 %}Tomorrow{% else %}in {{value.daysTo}} days{% endif %}"
 9  types:
10    - Gelber Sack
11- platform: waste_collection_schedule
12  name: Papier
13  value_template: "{% if value.daysTo == 0 %}Today{% elif value.daysTo == 1 %}Tomorrow{% else %}in {{value.daysTo}} days{% endif %}"
14  types:
15    - Papier

Cards

Armed with the mystical powers of card-mod, the sorcery of mushroom-entity-card, and the sheer chaos of a well-placed grid, I conjured up the following magical creation:

 1square: false
 2columns: 3
 3type: grid
 4cards:
 5  - type: custom:mushroom-entity-card
 6    entity: sensor.restabfall
 7    tap_action:
 8      action: none
 9    hold_action:
10      action: none
11    double_tap_action:
12      action: none
13    icon_type: none
14    fill_container: false
15    layout: vertical
16    card_mod:
17      style: |
18        ha-card { 
19          background-color:
20            {% if is_state('sensor.restabfall', 'in 2 days') %}
21              #FFE4B5
22            {% elif is_state('sensor.restabfall', 'Tomorrow') %}
23              #FA8072
24            {% else %}
25              #FFFFFF
26            {% endif %}
27        }
28  - type: custom:mushroom-entity-card
29    entity: sensor.gelber_sack
30    tap_action:
31      action: none
32    icon_type: none
33    layout: vertical
34    hold_action:
35      action: none
36    double_tap_action:
37      action: none
38    card_mod:
39      style: |
40        ha-card { 
41          background-color:
42            {% if is_state('sensor.gelber_sack', 'in 2 days') %}
43              #FFE4B5
44            {% elif is_state('sensor.gelber_sack', 'Tomorrow') %}
45              #FA8072
46            {% else %}
47              #FFFFFF
48            {% endif %}
49        }
50  - type: custom:mushroom-entity-card
51    entity: sensor.papier
52    tap_action:
53      action: none
54    icon_type: none
55    layout: vertical
56    hold_action:
57      action: none
58    double_tap_action:
59      action: none
60    card_mod:
61      style: |
62        ha-card { 
63          background-color:
64            {% if is_state('sensor.papier', 'in 2 days') %}
65              #FFE4B5
66            {% elif is_state('sensor.papier', 'Tomorrow') %}
67              #FA8072
68            {% else %}
69              #FFFFFF
70            {% endif %}
71        }
72grid_options:
73  columns: 12
74  rows: auto

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