Free junk removal in Los Angeles: the City first, a hauler second

The City's curbside pickup comes first

A household with a couch or a mattress to send out has the City's bulky pickup to check first. LA Sanitation calls it an unlimited curbside service at no additional charge¹ for the households it serves, picking up large items that do not fit in the bins.

The service runs on a household's regular trash day, scheduled through an online service request form, the MyLA311 mobile app or the 24-hour Customer Care Center.¹ A household already sets its bins out on that day.

Residents are asked for an itemized list, such as one mattress, two chairs and a desk,¹ so a right-sized truck is sent. A hauler listens for the same rough list on the phone, so writing it out once covers both.

The free monthly drop-off events

For a Saturday when a household wants to move pieces off the calendar rather than wait for the next pickup, five Saturday drop-off locations open around the city, 8am to 4:30pm once a month,¹ with sites in Sun Valley, Northridge, San Pedro, West LA and Central LA.

The event costs nothing on the City's side either. A household can bring its bulky items to one of those sites on the Saturday. The bulky item pickup guide is on the drop-off locations in more detail.

Mattresses have their own programs

Mattresses move through more than one program at once. The City's bulky pickup lists mattresses and box springs among the items its crews will gladly take. The State runs a separate program for mattress recycling.

California's Mattress Stewardship Program² is overseen by CalRecycle, and covers reuse, recycling and disposal of used mattresses, box springs and futons. Day-to-day it is run by the Mattress Recycling Council, a nonprofit set up by mattress manufacturers, renovators and retailers. On the Council's own Bye Bye Mattress page, an old mattress can be dropped off at no additional cost at participating locations, and some local governments may provide a free bulky item pickup, with the ones that recycle mattresses with the program noted.³

A household can look up a nearby drop-off through the State program on the Bye Bye Mattress page.

Donating still-good furniture and appliances

A piece still in good shape can go to a local thrift store, a charity, or a community exchange app¹ before anything is scheduled.

Donation centers set their own lists of what they take. Phone the center and ask what it accepts. A donation route is a separate route from any of the City's pickups, and a piece a center turns down can still go on a City pickup if it is on the City's list.

Electronics and hazardous items have their own free routes

The City runs free routes for both household hazardous waste and electronics. Each has its own page.

For paint, batteries, light bulbs, cleaners and the other household chemicals, permanent S.A.F.E. Centers and one-day Mobile Collection Events are a free household hazardous waste drop-off for residents,⁴ with a per-visit limit of 15 gallons or 125 pounds. The black bin page⁵ names those Centers by their letters: Solvents, Automotives, Flammables and Electronics.

Electronics have three free routes on the same page. Old TVs, computers and the rest can go out through a curbside pickup for large electronics scheduled through MyLA311 or the Customer Care Center, drop-off at S.A.F.E. Centers, or Mobile Collection Events held in parts of the city without a nearby Center.⁴ The curbside pickup is on the same request route as a bulky pickup through MyLA311.

A separate pickup covers appliances that are mostly metal. LA Sanitation's Metal Appliance Pickup⁶ collects refrigerators, freezers, washers, dryers, dishwashers, air conditioners and water heaters, at no extra cost for residents with curbside service, and the page says to call about any item that is mostly metal and not on the list.

Yard trimmings have their own route: a free, once-a-year collection of extra yard trimmings and brush to all households LA Sanitation serves,⁷ with each bundle tied and no longer than four feet or heavier than 30 pounds. Residents schedule through MyLA311 or the Customer Care Center, the same routes as the bulky pickup.

Hiring a hauler for the pieces the City leaves

Hiring a hauler is a separate choice from the City and State routes. A household phones a hauling business and describes the pieces, where each piece sits in the house, and the way out to the driveway.

Household hazardous waste the City names, including paint, solvents, chemicals and batteries, is taken to a S.A.F.E. Center by the resident.

A short way to choose

The bulky item pickup guide covers the City's service in more detail. The junk removal cost guide is on what moves a hauler's price.