The preferred embodiment of the trash-and-recyclables collection and lowering system includes a paternoster like structure that includes a frame, a vehicle subsystem that includes a plurality of trash and recyclables carrying gondolas, guiderails and a drive system, a pair of chains that is connected to the plurality of gondolas at the bottom mid point of the gondolas, and a control subsystem. The system is powered by at least one motor that includes a motor shaft equipped with a worm gear that rotates a shaft on which a pair of sprockets in the top segment of the structure subsystem is mounted. The structure subsystem faces a wall a multi-story building that includes a plurality of trash and recyclables disposal windows. The gondolas are normally kept immediately under the trash and recyclables disposal windows, and are periodically lowered, and their contents are emptied to the trash or recyclables bin at the bottom of the structure.