The city program is free, capped at 7 items per appointment, curbside only, and open to single-family homes and buildings of three units or fewer — which leaves every condo and 4+ unit building in the District out entirely. Paid haul-away starts at a $75 minimum with a sofa at $170. Here's the honest 2026 comparison, including the cases where you should use the free one and not call us.
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Upload a Photo & Get Quote →DC DPW runs a free Bulk Trash Collection service, and if it fits your situation you should absolutely use it — this guide is not an argument against it. Request an appointment through 311 or at dpw.dc.gov, put your items out on the assigned date, and a DPW crew collects them from the curb. The terms that decide whether it fits you:
When you should just use it: you're in a row house or a small building, you have two or three ordinary household items, they're already on the ground floor or you can get them to the curb without hurting yourself, and your deadline is measured in weeks rather than days. That's a genuinely good deal and there's no reason to pay for it. Book the 311 appointment and keep your money.
One planning note that catches people out: count your items the way a collection crew counts them. A 3-piece sectional is three items. A bed is usually a mattress, a box spring and a frame. A dresser with a detached mirror can read as two. A single bedroom cleared to the studs often exceeds seven on its own.
The DMV is three jurisdictions and five or six different rulebooks, and none of them are the District's. Montgomery County, Prince George's County, Arlington County, the City of Alexandria and Fairfax County each run their own scheduled or on-call bulk-collection program, and each one sets its own item caps, its own accepted-item list and its own exclusions.
We're not going to invent the numbers. What we can tell you is the shape they all share, because it matters more than the specifics:
Check your own jurisdiction's current terms before you plan a move-out date around one. The rules change, and the neighbor who tells you what they did last year may live one county line away.
Free stops being the right answer in a fairly predictable set of situations. If you're in one of these, you're not being upsold — the program genuinely doesn't cover it:
Our side, so you can compare like for like: flat prices, per item, quoted from a photo before anyone is dispatched, with the carry-out, loading, drive and disposal already inside the number. The order minimum is $75.
| Item | Flat price |
|---|---|
| Medium TV | $91 |
| Box spring | $124 |
| Queen mattress | $139 |
| Treadmill | $155 |
| Dresser | $169 |
| Sofa | $170 |
| Refrigerator | $221 |
| Sectional — 3-piece | $249 |
| Truck-fill — 2/8 | $325 |
| Truck-fill — 3/8 | $455 |
| Truck-fill — 4/8 | $580 |
| Truck-fill — 5/8 | $690 |
| Truck-fill — 6/8 | $790 |
| Truck-fill — 7/8 | $890 |
| Truck-fill — full truck | $985 |
Several items combine into one flat number rather than a stack of charges, and past roughly a room's worth the truck-fill ladder takes over from per-item pricing. In the District sales tax is applied to the service at checkout; Maryland and Virginia don't tax it.
Clearly labelled as third-party market research, not our prices. HomeGuide's 2026 junk-removal pricing research puts:
And the DMV's strongest regional local deserves a fair hearing: 123JUNK (17+ years, based in Chantilly, serving DC, Maryland and Northern Virginia) publishes transparent truck-space pricing with labor, fuel and disposal included and no weight or time charges — a genuinely honest model and the local benchmark. It is still a volume model, though: the price depends on how much of the truck your things turn out to occupy, so an estimate remains part of the process. The difference we're offering isn't "cheaper than everyone" — it's that a sofa is $170 before anyone looks at it, and it's still $170 when they arrive.
It's fair to ask why anyone charges $170 to take away a couch when the city will take it for nothing. The answer is that the city isn't taking it for nothing — it's taking it out of the tax base — and the underlying disposal costs in this metro are high.
Fairfax County charges commercial haulers approximately $90 per ton to tip at the I-66 Transfer Station and the I-95 Landfill and Energy-Recovery Complex in FY2026 (Fairfax County DPWES). On the Maryland side, Montgomery County's Shady Grove Processing Facility and Transfer Station in Derwood/Rockville and Prince George's County's Brown Station Road Sanitary Landfill in Upper Marlboro both charge collectors per ton as well. Those are the gates every truck in the region drives through.
To put $90 a ton in perspective: it's several times what a hauler pays in the cheaper Sun Belt metros. It's the reason DMV junk-removal prices sit where they do across every company on this page, and it's a real cost that has to land somewhere. Free curbside collection puts it on the taxpayer; a paid haul puts it inside the quote. Neither is a scam — they're two different ways of paying the same tipping floor, and the honest question is only which one fits your address, your item count and your deadline.
| DC DPW bulk trash | MD / VA county programs | JunkRabbit | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Cost | Free | Free for serviced households | Flat from a $75 minimum — sofa $170, whole truck $985 |
| Speed | Scheduled appointment via 311 | Scheduled or on-call | Same day when a slot's open |
| Item limit | 7 per appointment | Each county sets its own cap | None — per item, or by truck fraction |
| Who's eligible | Single-family + ≤3-unit buildings only | Varies; multi-family usually served through the property | Everyone — houses, row houses, walk-ups, condos, offices |
| Who does the lifting | You, to the curb | You, to the curb | Our crew, from wherever it sits |
| What it won't take | Renovation / C&D debris | Own exclusion list per county | Hazardous material aside, very little |
| Condos & 4+ unit buildings | Excluded — private licensed hauler required | Typically through the property, not the resident | Covered — COI filed, elevator booked, no surcharge |
Read the "who does the lifting" row twice. It's the only row where the two columns aren't doing the same job at different speeds — and it's why a free program and a paid one can both be the right answer on the same street.
On our side: donation first where the piece deserves it — Goodwill of Greater Washington, the Salvation Army, Habitat for Humanity ReStore locations across the DMV, and A Wider Circle in Silver Spring, which furnishes homes for families leaving homelessness and issues a receipt on request. Then salvage: metal to scrap, electronics to e-waste recycling through the DC, Montgomery, Prince George's, Arlington and Fairfax programs, and refrigerant appliances handled with EPA-certified recovery before anything else happens to them. Only what genuinely can't be diverted is tipped, at Fairfax I-66 or I-95, or MoCo's Shady Grove. We won't quote you a diversion percentage we can't defend — but that's the order of operations, and the disposal is in your price either way.
Is DC bulk trash free?
Yes — no fee for eligible households. Request it through 311 or dpw.dc.gov, put the items out on the assigned date, and DPW collects from the curb. The costs are the non-monetary ones: the cap, the wait, the curb, and the residents who aren't eligible at all.
How many items will it take?
Up to 7 per appointment — counted the way a crew counts. A 3-piece sectional is three. A bed is often three. One bedroom regularly exceeds the cap by itself.
Does DC take couches, mattresses and appliances?
For eligible addresses, yes — that's what the program is for, within the 7-item cap, brought to the curb by you. Renovation and construction debris are not accepted, and nothing is collected from inside the building.
Can my condo use it?
No. It serves single-family homes and buildings of three units or fewer. Condos, co-ops and 4+ unit apartment buildings are excluded and must use a private, licensed hauler. It's the unit count that decides — a six-unit Dupont conversion is out; a Petworth three-flat is in. More on that in our DC condo private-hauler guide.
Does it take renovation debris?
No — renovation and construction and demolition debris are excluded. Cabinets, drywall, flooring, deck lumber and contractor bags are a private-hauler job in every jurisdiction here.
What if I need it today?
Then it's a paid pickup: bulk trash is a scheduled appointment and can't be accelerated. Send a photo for a flat price and a same-day window. The one lead time we can't shorten is your building's — high-rises typically want a COI 48–72 hours ahead plus a reserved dock window.
How much does paid junk removal cost in DC?
Flat, from a $75 minimum: sofa $170, 3-piece sectional $249, queen mattress $139, dresser $169, medium TV $91, treadmill $155, refrigerator $221; truck-fill $325 → $985. Third-party benchmark (HomeGuide 2026): 1-800-GOT-JUNK ~$100–$150 minimum to $700–$1,000 full truck, College HUNKS from ~$150, Junk King ~$600+ full — all after an on-site estimate.
Do Montgomery, Arlington and Fairfax have their own bulk pickup?
Yes — Montgomery County, Prince George's County, Arlington County, the City of Alexandria and Fairfax County each run their own scheduled or on-call program with its own caps and exclusions. Check your own jurisdiction directly; the rules aren't the District's and aren't each other's.
Yes. DC DPW's Bulk Trash Collection carries no fee for eligible households. You request an appointment through 311 or at dpw.dc.gov, place the items out yourself on the assigned date, and DPW collects from the curb. Free is genuinely free here — the costs are the ones that do not appear on an invoice: the item cap, the wait for a scheduled date, the curbside-only limitation, and the fact that a large share of District residents is not eligible at all.
Up to 7 items per appointment. It is worth counting the way a collection crew counts: a 3-piece sectional is three items, a bed is often a mattress plus a box spring plus a frame, and a dresser with a detached mirror can read as two. A single bedroom cleared out will frequently exceed the cap on its own, which is the most common reason people who are eligible for the free program still end up booking a paid one.
For eligible addresses, household bulk items of that kind are exactly what the program exists for — brought to the curb by you, on the date assigned, within the 7-item cap. What it does not accept is renovation and construction and demolition debris. And it never comes inside: a sofa on the third floor of an Adams Morgan walk-up or a mattress in a Capitol Hill English basement is only collectible once you have already carried it down to the street, which for most people is the entire difficulty.
No. The program serves single-family homes and buildings of three units or fewer. Condominiums, co-ops and apartment buildings of four or more units are excluded, and District rules require those residents to have bulk items removed by a private, licensed hauler. The test is the unit count, so a historic Dupont row house divided into six condos is excluded while a purpose-built three-flat in Petworth is not.
No. Renovation and construction and demolition debris are not accepted by the bulk-trash program. Demolished kitchen cabinets, torn-out drywall, ripped-up flooring, deck lumber, bathroom fixtures and the contractor bags that come with any of it all fall outside it, regardless of how few items you are putting out or how eligible your building is otherwise. That work is a private-hauler job in every jurisdiction in this metro.
Then the free program is not the tool. Bulk trash is a scheduled appointment on a date the city assigns, not an on-demand service, and no amount of urgency moves it. Paid removal is the same-day option: send a photo, get a flat price in seconds, and pick a window. The one thing that can add lead time is your building rather than us — high-rises across Navy Yard, NoMa, Rosslyn and Tysons typically want a certificate of insurance filed 48 to 72 hours ahead plus a reserved dock window.
Yes. Montgomery County, Prince George's County, Arlington County, the City of Alexandria and Fairfax County each run their own scheduled or on-call bulk-collection program, and each sets its own item caps and exclusion lists. They are not the District's rules and they are not each other's, so check your own jurisdiction directly rather than assuming your last neighborhood's terms travelled with you. Multi-family properties in those counties are typically served through the property rather than by individual resident appointment.