Are you frustrated or confused about what to do with that old fridge or broken-down sofa? Don’t worry, we’ve got the cure for your bulky item blues.
A bulky item is any large, heavy, or difficult-to-move object that is too big to fit in your trash bin. Common examples are furniture, carpet, bathroom fixtures, tires, exercise equipment, building materials, and large appliances. These items are never fun to deal with, but knowing all your options can help.
What condition is it in?
In general, if your item is gently used, clean and in good working order it can be sold or donated. Certain items like non-working appliances, metal and clean wood can be recycled. But if your item is some combination of old, soiled, damaged or broken there’s a pretty good chance it’s trash.
Making these determinations are a good first step. Now, let’s take a closer look at the services available to you.
What are my options?
You have many choices for getting rid of your bulky item. Ultimately, it comes down to cost, convenience, and your end-use preference. If an item can be donated, reused, or recycled, those are always preferable to sending it to the landfill.
Donation & reuse –If your item is gently used, clean and in good working condition there are multiple pick-up and drop-off donation options. Habitat for Humanity ReStore has locations throughout the metro area that accept donations of just about anything they sell at hardware and home improvement stores. Flourish Furniture Bank accepts gently used furniture, beds, cookware, dishes, linens, decorations, and household goods. Many thrift stores and charities accept furniture, appliances and electronics. Play It Again Sports buys and trades used sports and fitness gear including exercise bikes, treadmills, and ellipticals. Many of these entities offer both pick-up and drop-off options.
Junk haulers –There’s no shortage of junk haulers as long as you don’t mind paying a fee. They pick up just about anything, and most claim they donate and recycle what they can. If you take this route, be sure and ask which of your items they will donate and recycle.
Bulky item pickup – Bulky item pickup is offered by most trash haulers. You either already pay for it through your trash subscription, city, or HOA, or your hauler charges a separate per-item fee. The problem with bulky item pickup is that most of the items are destined for the landfill regardless of condition. To find your trash hauler, visit RecycleSpot’s Community Services.
Landfills and transfer stations –There are multiple landfills and transfer stations throughout the metro area where you can drop off almost anything you want to dispose for a fee. Some of them offer recycling options for certain types of items.
At the curb – If all else fails, put a “Free” sign on it, place it at the curb and see if someone will take it off your hands. Unfortunately, there are several potential downsides to this option: bad weather can quickly turn something usable into something very unusable, there’s the possibility that your item may not be properly disposed by whomever picked it up, and anything you put at the curb that isn’t scheduled for a bulky-item pickup could result in a code violation from your city and / or complaints from neighbors who don’t like the look of junk at the curb.
For locations where you can donate, recycle or dispose your bulky items, visit RecycleSpot.
