Thats what we call the day when you can put out most of your junk like old furniture, mattresses, and such and they pick up darn near anything. They also allow you to haul truckloads of construction debris to the dump for free. I’m tossing remnants of the old deck.
Unfortunately they dont take electronics (like old tvs), paint, or things with freon. You have to haul them yourself to a specific place.
We only get this once every 2 years. Many people also drive around “shopping” and taking things people leave out.
I also refer to this day as “glad I own a truck day” since you not only get to haul stuff away but get to drive around and find stuff people leave at the curb. Great way to pick up rolls of old carpet, exercise equipment, and furniture.
I don’t think I’ve seen a day like that in my city, but a lot of folks go down alleys looking for stuff. I once kicked out a set of tenants and they left behind a table and chairs. I’d just got done hauling the last chair out when someone in a car slowed down and asked if I was getting rid of it. I told them sure, they asked for it, and then picked it up to haul off. It was in servicable condition, but the upholstery was stained. Didn’t seem to matter. I’ve put out other stuff marked FREE and it disappears promptly.
It’s called “Bulk trash” pickup here, and it happens quarterly. They’ll pick up almost anything but hazardous waste (there are separate events for that). I usually pile all my metal (old fencing, etc.) neatly so that the trash pickers get it first for the recycling. Computers and electronics are taken the day I set them out.
I don’t have trash pick up. There is supposed to be county wide pick up. But apparently I don’t qualify. I hear they have ‘Special’ trash day a coupla times a year. I do take advantage of the free dump days. I can parlay the fact my property is in 2 counties and get twice as many free dump days. Other than that we burn.
I just recently found out we have an electronics dump place.
here we get coupons for 2 free trips to the dump and they’ll pick up 4 large items a year (occasionally you can talk them into an extra trip or so…) we have waste management…the city/county does the e-waste dropoffs a few times of year …
When living in Melbourne (Aus) many local councils offered a ‘Hard Rubbish’ pick up, so a whole suburb would chuck their unwanted stuff out onto the nature-strip (the grassy bit between the kerb and the road) over a weekend, and some time the following week it would be hauled away.
Hard Rubbish was a collector’s dream! It was amazing the sort of stuff that people would turf out, and cruising the streets became a fave pastime for some, and a money-making opportunity for others (who would collect the stuff and then onsell it via eBay and local FB sites). My daughter was one of the latter, and one HR cycle she made over $1000AUD selling some stuff that she’d found on the street.
Where I live now, not only isn’t there a hard rubbish collection, there’s no recycling at all so everything goes in the one bin. It’s taking a bit of getting used-to I must say.
My city isn’t involved in trash collection, and there are several companies to choose from. As of several years ago, my trash company would take one large item per week, with an option to schedule an extra pickup for multiple items at once (for a fee).
Oh yes, every 90 days. NONE of our junk ever gets picked up by the city. It all gets picked up by the scappers.
When I was semi-retired and working eBay for income, I occasionally found things. Once I found a pile of new college math text books. Those brought in nearly $200. Another time I found an old camera accessory. That made me $75. Fun while out for a morning walk!
We don’t have trash pick up. Got to take it to a transfer station about 15 miles away. I do that typically every two weeks. Works well for us. Same with recycling. That’s a bit easier as it’s right by where I work. Any big stuff get’s hauled to the dump er, ‘landfill’. They do paint and stuff there.
For electronics, the county does an electronics recycle once a year.
In our county, you either contract with a private company to have your trash hauled, or you haul it yourself to one of several Convenience Centers where you can dispose of garbage and all manner of recyclables, including electronics. Occasionally, folks will set smaller, functional items next to the dumpster and others will claim them.
People also set things out on the road - I’ve done this myself - and invariably, they’ll be claimed. Someone even took my old lawnmower with the bent shaft - good for them if they were able to replace it!
The landfill does an amnesty day twice a year when you can bring your hazardous wastes and they’ll take 'em, no questions asked. When we bought this house, the previous owners left all kinds of stuff - paint, solvents, oils, gasoline of indeterminate age - and we got rid of all of it in one fell swoop. It may have been free, but I’d have paid to be rid of that stuff.
Heavy trash day is once a week. (Wednesdays in my neighborhood).
A truck with a crane arm and a claw gripper drives by, and picks up anything you leave on the curb the night before. Tree cuttings, old furniture, an old washing machine, broken bicycle frame, etc.
they added something like $5 a month to our waste fee and now we have bulk pickup every week with the regular trash. Makes it very easy. Prior to this it was once a quarter so you had to keep your crap for a bit before putting it out. Now also don’t have to plan when to trim the trees or rip out old shrubs, any time is fine. Worth the $60 in my opinion.
I have a dumpster at work. That’s where all our trash goes. It’s really pretty nice to never have smelly garbage at home. I try to time huge stuff (old lumber, furniture) for Sunday since Monday is the day they pick up. I give the haulers booze each xmas.
That’s how it is in the small Connecticut town where I grew up and my parents still live. For decades, we’d go to the transfer station, usually on Saturdays, to throw out the trash, recyclables and so forth. It was such a regular thing that those running for local office would stand there to greet voters and shake hands.
My town has ‘Brush Pickup’ once a month, scheduled by the area you live in(four divisions)- for example mine is “the week of the first Monday of the month”. You put your large piles of tree debris at the side of the road and the big claw truck hauls it away. The reason it’s not one specific day is so they don’t get overwhelmed if there is a big storm, or in February and March when most people do large-scale pruning. Small stuff that can be broken down to fit in a trash sack or can is picked up on regular trash days.
Large household items will be picked up on any regular trash day if you call the public works department in advance(a day or two?). In practice, any time I’ve gotten rid of furniture or appliances I just put it at the end of my driveway the night before trash day and a scrapper will pick it up.
It’s called “bulk trash” here as well. We used to have it once per year. They changed the rules a few years ago and eliminated bulk trash day, but now we can put out one (and only one) bulk trash item per week.
Our bulk trash is not separate. It’s the same day as regular pickup. It used to be that you had to call in advance if you had a bulk item but now they don’t care about that.
They do not take tree cuttings or what they call “construction debris”. Old furniture, washing machines, bicycles, etc. are all fine. They won’t take a rolled up carpet. They make you cut it into smaller pieces first. There are a lot of nit-picky rules.
the company my city uses right now will pick up pretty much anything on any trash day, so long as it’s not hazardous waste, too big to fit in the truck, or too heavy to safely lift.
We don’t have trash pick up or any days that it’s free to bring anything to the dump - recycling a small range of plastics and cardboard is free, however. I dropped off food at the food pantry on Thursday and saw them giving away the bags we have to pay for to even use the dump to dispose of trash… I’m glad that’s an option, but it’s still kind of depressing that there’s no other way for low-income folks to avoid paying for the bags that are $1.25 each
Anyway, if you want to get rid of something you’d have to pay even more for at the dump (like $15 per air conditioner or $10 for a couch) you stick it out at the side of the road with a Free sign and/or post on Craigslist that it’s free, free for repair, or free for scrap.
Yard waste ( and recyclables ) get picked up every other week. The waste must be cut/bundled within certain dimensions if it can’t be bagged or in a container. Regular garbage pickup, once a week.
Heavy trash ( old dishwashers, lawn mowers, stuff like that ) is picked up by appointment. You call ‘311’, choose a menu option, and speak to a real person, given the soonest available options, and set a pickup date.
We have bulk trash day a few times a year. Lots of pickers come by early to take anything of value, scrap metal, etc. I always wonder if the city cares about the pickers. Does the city miss out on revenue from scrap metal or reselling of what they pick up? Or does the city just take everything to the dump and the pickers are actually helping out by saving the things with value?
