Seattle Public Utilities will collect your bulky items for $30 apiece — by appointment, at the curb, on your next garbage day. That is a real and genuinely cheap option, and this page starts by saying so. It also has four specific failure modes, and if you're in one of them the $30 number is irrelevant. Here's the honest comparison, with SPU's terms, King County's 2026 rates, and our flat prices side by side.
Send a photo — exact number back before anyone is dispatched
Upload a Photo & Get Quote →If you have one or two things, you can get them to the curb yourself, and you can wait until your next garbage day — book SPU. Thirty dollars an item is cheaper than any hauler in Puget Sound can profitably be, and a company that pretends otherwise is not being straight with you.
Pay somebody instead when any one of these is true: the pile is bigger than a couple of pieces, the item is upstairs or downstairs or behind a locked lobby, you're on a deadline that isn't your garbage day, or you live outside the Seattle city line where the program simply doesn't exist. Those four conditions cover most of the calls we actually get.
You request a special-items pickup, pay $30 per piece, and get slotted onto your next regular garbage day. Details at seattle.gov/specialitems.
Every item has to be at the curb before the truck arrives, and it stays there in the meantime. Crews don't come inside, upstairs, or into a garage.
Send one photo, get an exact flat number in seconds, pick a window — often same-day. We lift it from the room it's in. Nothing touches the sidewalk.
Special-items collection: $30 per item. Not per pickup, per item. That distinction is where most people's mental math goes wrong. A queen mattress and its box spring are two items — $60. A three-piece sectional is three items — $90. A bedroom set with a frame, a headboard and a dresser is four. The program is by appointment, curbside only, and the collection is scheduled to your next regular garbage day, not to a day you pick. Everything above is published by SPU at seattle.gov/specialitems.
Self-haul inside the city. SPU runs two public stations: the North Recycling & Disposal Station in Wallingford on N 34th St, and the South Recycling & Disposal Station at 8105 5th Ave S. The published gate rate is roughly a $35 minimum per trip (up to 420 lb) and about $165 a ton for garbage.
⚠ Read those two SPU figures as as published, not as confirmed-for-today. SPU's public rate page carries a 4/1/2023 date, and a 2025 rate study cited a minimum closer to $32.60 and a commercial rate around $234.80 a ton. If you're planning a trip around the number, confirm the current gate rate with SPU before you load the truck.
This is the part almost nobody realises until they're already searching. SPU serves the City of Seattle. Everywhere else in this metro is King County Solid Waste Division — Bellevue, Redmond, Kirkland, Sammamish, Issaquah, Mercer Island, Newcastle, Renton, Shoreline. There is no $30-an-item curbside special-items program waiting for you out there. What there is, is a transfer station and a scale.
King County 2026, confirmed rates:
Stations: Factoria (Bellevue), Houghton (Kirkland), Shoreline, Bow Lake (Tukwila), Renton, Enumclaw and Vashon. Pricing is uniform across them; what differs is which materials each site accepts, so check before you drive across the lake with something unusual.
| Route | Cost | Speed | Who lifts it | Where it breaks |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| SPU special items (in Seattle) | $30 per item | Your next garbage day | You | Per-item math on volume; curbside only; no Eastside coverage |
| Self-haul, SPU station | ~$35 min / ~$165 per ton (as published) | An afternoon | You, twice | Needs a truck and a second person; rate page is 2023-dated |
| Self-haul, King County station | $40.25 min / $243.38 per ton, +$25 unsecured, +$30 per mattress or fridge | An afternoon | You, twice | Special-item fees stack fast; the drive is real |
| Donation pickup | Free | Days to weeks | Them, if they accept | Only resellable pieces; no mattresses; slots book out |
| Traditional full-service franchise | ~$253–$325 average job (third-party) | 1–3 days | Them | Volume-priced, usually confirmed only on site |
| JunkRabbit | $95 minimum · sofa $170 · queen mattress $139 · fridge $221 · truck-fill $325–$985 | Same day when a slot is open | Us | Not the cheapest way to lose one curbside item — SPU is |
Third-party context for that franchise row: cost guides from Homeyou and Yelp Costs put an average Seattle junk-removal job at roughly $253–$325. Our numbers are per item and fixed from your photo, so a single sofa doesn't get priced like a truckload.
1 · Volume. The per-item price is a bargain at one item and a trap at twenty. A Wallingford basement after thirty years is not "some bulky items," it's a wall of them — and at $30 a piece you'd be filling out an inventory and paying several hundred dollars for a program that still expects every one of those pieces to appear at the curb. That job prices as a truck-fill with us: $325 for a quarter truck, $580 for a half, $790 for three-quarters, $985 full, everything carried up the basement stairs by somebody else.
2 · Access. This is the big one in Seattle, and it isn't a technicality. SPU collects from the curb. That is the whole design of the program. So it does nothing for a third-floor Capitol Hill or First Hill walk-up with no elevator, nothing for a Ballard or Wallingford Craftsman basement with a turn in the stairwell, nothing for a house on the Queen Anne slope where the avenue runs an ~18–19% grade for five blocks and there are more than a hundred public stairways between the door and a parkable street. And in a Downtown, Belltown, South Lake Union or downtown Bellevue tower there is no curb to use at all — the building wants a certificate of insurance naming management (typically $1M general liability) and a freight elevator reserved days in advance. "Put it at the curb" is not a thing in a high-rise.
3 · Speed. The appointment lands on your next regular garbage day. Your garbage day does not move for a lease deadline, a closing date, a new-mattress delivery window, or a tenant arriving Saturday. If the timing has to be yours, the program can't help.
4 · Geography. Cross the city line and the program is gone. On the Eastside the choice is a King County transfer-station run at $40.25 minimum and $243.38 a ton, or a hauler. There is no third option.
Electronics are banned from the garbage — and free to recycle. Televisions, monitors, laptops and desktop computers can't legally go in the trash in Washington, and they don't need to: the manufacturer-funded WA E-Cycle program recycles them free statewide, roughly ten units per visit (ecyclewa.org or 1-800-RECYCLE). Any hauler paying to tip a TV is doing it wrong, and you shouldn't be paying disposal-weight pricing for one either.
Seattle's garbage ban is real. Under SMC 21.36, recyclables, food scraps, compostable paper and yard waste are prohibited from the garbage, and a load turning up more than roughly 10% contaminated gets tagged. Practically, that means a mixed cleanout has to be sorted — cardboard, metal, yard waste, clean wood and e-waste pulled out before the rest goes to the tipping floor. Somebody does that work. If you self-haul, it's you.
Freon is a legal step, not a courtesy. Refrigerators, freezers and AC units need EPA-certified refrigerant recovery before they can be disposed of, and King County charges $30 per unit on top of the load fee to handle them. It's the main reason a fridge costs more to remove than a dresser twice its size.
The tax line. Washington does not charge its ~10.35% retail sales tax on junk-removal service. What it does charge is the 3.6% state refuse and solid-waste collection tax (RCW 82.18) on the disposal portion, and you'll see it in your total. One useful consequence: anything routed to donation or recycling instead of the landfill avoids both the per-ton fee and that 3.6% base.
The routing follows the money, and in this market the money and the right answer point the same direction. Usable furniture goes to donation first — Evergreen Goodwill, the Salvation Army, Habitat for Humanity ReStore and St. Vincent de Paul of Seattle/King County all move resellable pieces, and we'll get you a receipt on request. Electronics go to WA E-Cycle, free. Metal, clean wood, cardboard and yard waste get pulled out and routed separately; yard waste alone tips at roughly $115 a ton against garbage's $243.38. Only what's genuinely dead goes to the tipping floor. With disposal this expensive and a 3.6% tax riding on it, diversion isn't a marketing line here — it's how a flat price stays flat.
"I'd already booked the city pickup and then realised I had to get a sleeper sofa down two flights by myself. Sent a photo instead, flat price, gone that afternoon."
"We're in Bellevue so there's no city pickup — it was either a trip to Factoria or this. Whole garage cleared in one visit and the quote didn't move."
"Basement of a 1918 house in Wallingford. Counted about thirty things that would've been $30 each. One truck-fill price instead, carried up the stairs."
How much does Seattle bulky-item pickup cost?
$30 per item through SPU's special-items collection — by appointment, curbside only, on your next regular garbage day. Terms at seattle.gov/specialitems. There is no free bulky day; the charge is per piece, so a mattress plus box spring is $60.
So is the city option cheaper than hiring you?
For one or two curbside-accessible items you can wait on — yes, clearly. Our floor is a $95 minimum, a sofa is $170, a queen mattress $139. What you're buying at that price is the carry-out, the timing, and the certainty. If none of those matter to you, book SPU.
Does the Eastside have bulky pickup?
Not the SPU program — it stops at the Seattle city line. Outside it you're under King County Solid Waste: $40.25 minimum load (≤320 lb), $243.38 a ton, +$25 if the load isn't secured. Stations are Factoria, Houghton, Shoreline, Bow Lake, Renton, Enumclaw and Vashon.
What does the dump cost inside Seattle?
SPU's North (Wallingford, N 34th St) and South (8105 5th Ave S) stations publish about a $35 minimum per trip (≤420 lb) and ~$165 a ton. Treat that as published, not current — the page is dated 4/1/2023 and a 2025 study cited ~$32.60 minimum and ~$234.80/ton commercial. Confirm before you go.
Are mattresses and fridges charged extra?
At King County, yes: $30 each for a mattress or box spring (limit six a day), and $30 per unit for refrigerators, freezers and AC units, which also require EPA-certified freon recovery. Those stack on top of the minimum load fee.
Can I put a TV in the trash?
No — TVs, monitors, laptops and computers are banned from Washington garbage and recycled free through WA E-Cycle (~10 units a visit, ecyclewa.org / 1-800-RECYCLE). We route them there; TVs price $84–$98 by size when we're already carrying them out.
Why can't I just fill one can with everything?
SMC 21.36 bans recyclables, food scraps, compostable paper and yard waste from Seattle garbage, and a load over roughly 10% contamination gets tagged. A mixed cleanout has to be sorted — which is a chunk of the labour you're paying for when you hire it out.
Is there sales tax on this?
Not the ~10.35% retail rate — Washington doesn't apply it to the service. A 3.6% state refuse tax (RCW 82.18) rides on the disposal portion and shows in your total. Donated and recycled material sits outside that base.
For one or two items that you can physically get to the curb and that can sit outside until your next garbage day, yes — $30 an item is genuinely cheaper than anything a hauler can do, and we will tell you so. It stops being cheaper the moment volume, stairs, a tower, or a deadline enters the picture. A basement is dozens of $30 items, SPU crews do not enter your home or come down a stairwell, and the appointment lands on garbage day, never today. Our flat prices start at a $95 minimum with a sofa at $170 and a queen mattress at $139, carried out from any floor.
SPU's special-items program is a City of Seattle service and does not extend past the city line. Outside Seattle you are in King County Solid Waste Division territory, where the 2026 self-haul rate is a $40.25 minimum load up to 320 lb and $243.38 a ton for garbage, plus a $25 fee if the load is not secured. Transfer stations include Factoria in Bellevue, Houghton in Kirkland, Shoreline, Bow Lake in Tukwila, Renton, Enumclaw and Vashon. There is no curbside equivalent to SPU's $30 item pickup in most Eastside cities.
Inside the city, SPU's North Recycling and Disposal Station in Wallingford on N 34th St and the South station at 8105 5th Ave S publish roughly a $35 minimum per trip up to 420 lb and about $165 a ton for garbage. Treat those as published rather than confirmed — SPU's rate page carries a 4/1/2023 date and a 2025 study cited a minimum nearer $32.60 and a commercial rate around $234.80 a ton, so check the current gate rate before you drive. Outside the city, King County's 2026 rates are $40.25 minimum and $243.38 a ton.
Yes, at King County. A mattress or a box spring is $30 each with a limit of six per day. Refrigerant appliances — refrigerators, freezers and air conditioners — are $30 per unit and require EPA-certified freon recovery before disposal. Non-refrigerant appliances are accepted from residential customers only and must be empty. Those fees sit on top of the $40.25 minimum load.
No. Televisions, monitors, laptops and desktop computers are banned from the garbage in Washington and are recycled free statewide through the manufacturer-funded WA E-Cycle program, at roughly ten units per visit. Details are at ecyclewa.org or 1-800-RECYCLE. It costs nothing, which is why any competent hauler diverts them rather than paying to tip them.
Seattle Municipal Code 21.36 bans recyclables, food scraps, compostable paper and yard waste from the garbage. A load arriving more than roughly 10 percent contaminated gets tagged. That is the practical reason a mixed cleanout has to be source-separated rather than shovelled into one pile, and it is work somebody has to do — you, or your hauler.
Not the retail sales tax. Washington does not apply its roughly 10.35 percent retail rate to junk-removal service. Instead a 3.6 percent state refuse and solid-waste collection tax under RCW 82.18 rides on the disposal portion of the job and appears in your total. Anything diverted to donation or recycling sits outside that tax base entirely.