Six real options — SPU bulky-item pickup at $30 per item, donation, selling it, the transfer station at $40.25 minimum and $243.38 a ton, hauling it yourself, or flat-price pickup from $170 for a sofa. Here's what each actually costs, the Seattle rules that trip people up, and which one is easiest.
Snap a photo — flat price back in seconds. A sofa is $170.
Upload a Photo & Get Quote →Inside Seattle city limits, Seattle Public Utilities runs a "special items" collection for garbage customers. The published price is $30 per item, and the four limits are what matter: it's by appointment, it's curbside only, it's scheduled to your next regular garbage day, and the crew does not come inside. Booking lives at seattle.gov/specialitems.
So it's genuinely the cheapest way to lose a couch — provided you can get the couch to the street under your own power and you can wait until your collection day comes around. It doesn't help with a sofa in a Wallingford basement, a dresser on the third floor of a Capitol Hill walk-up, or a Thursday closing on a house you have to empty by Tuesday. And apartment buildings on private hauling contracts often aren't on the program at all.
Outside city limits there is no equivalent. Bellevue, Redmond, Kirkland, Sammamish, Issaquah, Renton, Newcastle and Mercer Island fall under the King County Solid Waste Division, which is a self-haul transfer-station system rather than a doorstep pickup service. If you live on the Eastside, "the city will come get it" simply isn't one of your options — skip to section 4.
Seattle has four solid donation routes, and all four do free home pickup of resellable furniture: Evergreen Goodwill, the Salvation Army (1-800-SA-TRUCK), Habitat for Humanity ReStore and St. Vincent de Paul of Seattle/King County. Donation is the best outcome for a good piece — it stays out of a $243-a-ton waste stream, someone else gets a sofa, and you can ask for a receipt for the deduction.
The honest caveats: condition is judged at the door, and a stained, torn, wobbly or water-damaged piece gets declined after you've waited for the truck. Pickup slots typically book out a week or more, especially in spring. Crews generally take pieces from the ground floor or the driveway rather than carrying them up from a basement. And none of them take used mattresses — that's not a policy quirk, it's essentially universal in Washington.
Seattle runs on Buy Nothing groups — the movement literally started in the Puget Sound area — and Facebook Marketplace and OfferUp move a decent couch fast. Free listings especially disappear in hours.
The catch is unchanged by the platform: you still have to get it out of the house. Buyers and takers show up in a Subaru, look at a three-seater on the second floor, and discover neither of you can move it. You'll field no-shows, reschedules and the person who wants you to help carry it down. Fine if you have the time and the piece is genuinely nice; frustrating if your lease ends Saturday.
Doable, and worth pricing honestly. King County stations — Factoria (Bellevue), Houghton (Kirkland), Shoreline, Bow Lake (Tukwila), Renton, Enumclaw, Vashon — publish $40.25 minimum per load (up to 320 lb) and $243.38 per ton for 2026, plus $25 if your load isn't secured. Inside the city, SPU's North station (Wallingford, N 34th St) and South station (8105 5th Ave S) publish roughly $35 minimum per trip (up to 420 lb) and about $165 per ton — though SPU's rate page is dated 4/1/2023, so confirm before you load.
Then add what the fee doesn't cover: a truck you probably don't own, fuel, straps, a second person, and the fact that "free" ends the moment you rent something. Two trips and a Saturday routinely cost more than one flat pickup — and you're still the one carrying the sofa up the basement stairs at both ends.
Here's the Seattle-specific catch none of the above solves: getting the old furniture up from the basement or down the walk-up stairs. That's the actual hard part.
Unlike the Sun Belt, Seattle homes have real basements. Ballard, Wallingford, Ravenna and Wedgwood are wall-to-wall pre-war Craftsman and box houses with full basements, and after a few decades of damp PNW storage those basements hold a sofa bed nobody can lift, a dresser swollen shut, and boxes that have quietly gone soft. Getting a sleeper sofa up a narrow, turning basement stair is a two-person job with a strategy, not a chore.
Above ground it's the hills. Capitol Hill and First Hill are dense with 1900s no-elevator walk-ups; Queen Anne Ave N's Counterbalance runs roughly an 18–19% grade and the city has more than 100 public stairways. SPU won't come up those stairs. The donation truck won't. The Marketplace buyer definitely won't. A full-service haul is the only option on this page where somebody else does that carry — and with us it carries no stair fee and no hill fee.
Send a photo, get a set price (a sofa is $170, a sectional from $190), and a crew carries it out — from any floor or up from the basement, no stair fee, usable pieces donated for you. Often same-day. It's the option most Seattleites land on once they've priced out the rest, and it's the only one that solves section 5.
Flat, photo-quoted, and the carry-out is inside the number — not billed on top.
| Piece | Flat price |
|---|---|
| Sofa / couch | $170 |
| Loveseat | $128 |
| Sleeper / pull-out sofa | $200 |
| Recliner | $132 |
| Futon | $139 |
| Armchair | $104 |
| Sectional — 2-piece | $190 |
| Sectional — 3-piece | $249 |
| Sectional — 4-piece | $307 |
| Dresser (standard / large) | $169 / $199 |
| Wardrobe | $165 |
| Dining table (small / large) | $138 / $174 |
| Bookshelf | $97 |
| Coffee table | $84 |
| Entertainment center | $104 |
Whole rooms and whole houses price by truck-fill instead — $325 (2/8) through $985 (8/8) — which is nearly always cheaper than adding pieces one at a time. $95 minimum on any job. Disposal and carry-out included. A small WA refuse tax may apply on the disposal portion.
For outside context, Homeyou and Yelp Costs put the average Seattle junk-removal job at roughly $253–$325, across a range of about $170–$433. See the full Seattle price guide →
| Option | Cost | Speed | Catch |
|---|---|---|---|
| SPU special-items pickup (city limits) | $30 per item | Next garbage day | Appointment, curbside only; you get it to the street; not all apartments |
| Donation (Goodwill, Salvation Army, ReStore, St. Vincent de Paul) | Free | Days to weeks | Resellable condition only, judged at the door; no mattresses; ground floor |
| Sell / give away (Buy Nothing, Marketplace) | Earn a little | Days | No-shows; the buyer expects you to help carry it out |
| Transfer station (King County / SPU) | $40.25 min · $243.38/ton · +$25 unsecured | Same day, if you drive | Truck, straps, muscle, the basement stairs — twice |
| Flat-price pickup | $170 sofa · $95 minimum | Often same day | None — we carry it out, donation-routed |
Prices are flat and photo-quoted; $95 minimum, disposal included. Municipal figures are the published 2026 King County and Seattle Public Utilities rates. A small WA refuse tax may apply on disposal.
Whichever route you pick, the sorting decides the cost — for you and for the city. In King County, garbage tips at $243.38 a ton while yard waste and clean wood go for about $115, and e-waste is free through WA E-Cycle. So a sorted load is both the compliant one and the cheap one.
One rule to know if you're doing it yourself: under SMC 21.36, Seattle bans recyclables, food scraps, compostable paper and yard waste from the garbage, and a load more than roughly 10% contaminated gets a violation tag instead of a collection. Mixing the garage sweepings into one pile is exactly how that happens.
"The sleeper sofa had been in the basement since we bought the house and I'd given up on Marketplace. They got it up the turn in the stairs without touching the wall. Flat price from a photo."
"Goodwill turned down the dresser because of a water mark, and my SPU pickup wasn't until the following week. Booked here in the morning, gone by afternoon, and the good chairs got donated."
"Whole dining set and two bookshelves out of a Sammamish house before listing. One truck-fill price, no per-piece nickel and diming, and they swept up after."
Does Seattle pick up furniture at the curb?
Inside city limits, yes — SPU special items at $30 each, by appointment, curbside only, on your next regular garbage day (seattle.gov/specialitems). Outside city limits it's King County self-haul instead, with no pickup equivalent.
How much does furniture removal cost?
Sofa $170, loveseat $128, sleeper $200, sectional $190–$307 by piece count, dresser $169–$199, dining table $138–$174, bookshelf $97. Whole rooms go by truck-fill, $325–$985. $95 minimum, carry-out and disposal included.
Where can I donate furniture in Seattle?
Evergreen Goodwill, Salvation Army (1-800-SA-TRUCK), Habitat ReStore and St. Vincent de Paul all do free home pickup of resellable pieces. None take used mattresses, and condition is judged at the door.
What does the dump cost if I drive it myself?
King County: $40.25 minimum per load up to 320 lb, $243.38 per ton, +$25 unsecured. SPU: about $35 per trip up to 420 lb and roughly $165 per ton, on a page dated 4/1/2023.
Who carries it up from the basement?
We do — that's the whole point of the service. No stair fee, no hill fee, from any floor.
Is there sales tax on it?
Not the ~10.35% retail rate. A 3.6% state Refuse/Solid Waste Collection Tax (RCW 82.18) applies to the disposal portion and may show as a line on your receipt.
What's the easiest way overall?
If it's already at the curb and you can wait, SPU's $30-per-item pickup. If it's still in the house, or you're on the Eastside, or it has to be gone this week — a flat-price pickup.
Flat and photo-quoted: sofa $170, loveseat $128, sleeper sofa $200, recliner $132, futon $139, armchair $104, sectional 2-piece $190 / 3-piece $249 / 4-piece $307, dresser $169 or $199 large, dining table $138 to $174, bookshelf $97, coffee table $84, entertainment center $104, wardrobe $165. Whole-room and whole-house clears price by truck-fill from $325 to $985. The minimum on any job is $95, disposal and carry-out included. Homeyou and Yelp Costs put the average Seattle junk-removal job at roughly $253 to $325.
At a King County station — Factoria, Houghton, Shoreline, Bow Lake, Renton, Enumclaw or Vashon — the 2026 published rate is $40.25 minimum per load up to 320 lb, $243.38 per ton after that, plus $25 if your load isn't secured. Seattle Public Utilities' North station in Wallingford and South station at 8105 5th Ave S publish roughly $35 minimum per trip up to 420 lb and about $165 per ton, though that page is dated 4/1/2023. Add a truck rental, fuel and a second pair of hands before deciding it's free.
That is the part no other option solves. SPU's pickup is curbside only, donation trucks generally take pieces from the ground floor or the driveway, and a Marketplace buyer expects you to help. Our crew comes to the room the furniture is in — basement, attic, third-floor Capitol Hill walk-up — and carries it out. No stair fee and no hill fee, whatever the grade.
Not as a workaround for bulky items, and not mixed with banned material. Under SMC 21.36 Seattle bans recyclables, food scraps, compostable paper and yard waste from the garbage, and a load more than about 10 percent contaminated gets a violation tag instead of a collection. Furniture goes through the special-items program, a transfer station, donation, or a hauler.
Not the retail rate. Washington's roughly 10.35 percent retail sales tax does not apply to the junk-removal service. The state instead charges a 3.6 percent Refuse/Solid Waste Collection Tax (RCW 82.18) on the disposal portion, which may appear as a small line on your receipt.
Flat-price pickup. Send a photo, get a set price — a sofa is $170 — and a crew carries it out from any floor or up from the basement, with no stair fee and usable pieces donated for you. No transfer-station trip, no waiting for your next garbage day, and often same-day.