Takoma Park, Maryland — 20912. Victorians and bungalows with steep stairs, low attics and bulkhead cellars, in a town that genuinely wants to know where its things end up. Donation-first routing with documentation, e-waste and refrigerant handled properly, and an honest account of what can't be recycled — at a flat photo-quoted price from $75, with no sales tax on the service in Maryland.
Snap a photo — flat price back in seconds, no tax line
Upload a Photo & Get Quote →Most people who call a hauler want to know two things: what it costs and when you can come. In Takoma Park, Maryland (20912) there is reliably a third question, and it usually arrives first — where does it actually go? This is a small, deliberately independent town of Victorian houses and bungalows, full of people who compost seriously, who know what their city council is voting on, and who are not going to be satisfied with the phrase "we recycle whenever possible." So this page is organised around that question rather than burying it at the bottom, and the answers are specific enough to be checked.
A quick point of address discipline first, because it trips people up constantly: Takoma Park, Maryland is 20912, in Montgomery County. Takoma, in the District, is 20012 — a different jurisdiction with a different bulk-trash programme and a different tax answer. Two neighbourhoods, one name, a boundary running between them. If you're on the DC side, our Petworth & Brightwood page is the one that covers you. Everything below is for the Maryland side.
The tax answer for 20912 is simple: Maryland does not tax junk removal as a service. No sales-tax line, no percentage at the end — the flat quote is the total. Across the line in DC, the same work is taxed, because the District is the only one of the three DMV jurisdictions that taxes this service.
The attic, the cellar, the porch pile, or one piece of furniture. An exact flat price comes back in seconds — no walkthrough and no number that moves later.
What should be donated, what's genuinely finished, what you want kept back. If you want to know where a specific thing went, ask and we'll tell you.
Down the attic stairs, up out of the cellar, sorted on the spot into donate, recycle, refrigerant, e-waste and remainder. No tax line at the end.
This is the section that matters most here, so it goes near the top rather than the bottom, and it is written as a routing plan rather than a mission statement.
Donation comes first, and the first call is next door. A Wider Circle in Silver Spring — one town over, a ten-minute drive from most of 20912 — furnishes homes for families leaving homelessness: beds, tables, chairs, dressers, the objects that make an empty apartment habitable. They issue donation documentation, so you get paperwork and a real destination rather than a vague assurance. Beyond them we route to Habitat for Humanity ReStore (furniture, fixtures, appliances, cabinetry and building materials — the right home for what comes out of a restoration), Goodwill of Greater Washington and the Salvation Army. Roughly speaking: if a family would use it tomorrow, it should not be in a truck heading to a scale.
Then it splits by material. Metal goes to scrap — bed frames, shelving, appliance shells, the old swing set. Televisions, monitors and computers go to Montgomery County's e-waste recycling drop-offs, which exist precisely so that a medium TV at $91 does not end up buried. Refrigerators, freezers, window air conditioners and dehumidifiers require EPA-certified refrigerant recovery before disposal — that is federal law, not a courtesy, and it is the reason a fridge costs more to remove than a bookshelf. Paint, solvents and household chemicals are separated for the county's household-hazardous-waste channels instead of being thrown in the back of a truck. Clean wood and brush is handled as yard waste. Books and textiles in usable condition go to donation, not to the pile.
And here is the part most haulers won't put in writing. There is no statewide mattress-recycling mandate in Maryland, DC or Virginia — unlike California or Connecticut, where a law and a funded programme guarantee a destination. Recyclers exist in this region and we use them when they have capacity, but we will not claim mattress recycling as a guarantee, because it isn't one. The same honesty applies to the remainder generally: whatever is genuinely finished tips at Montgomery County's Shady Grove Processing Facility & Transfer Station in Derwood, and it is weighed and charged by the ton. For scale on what disposal costs in this region, Fairfax County's published FY2026 commercial disposal rate is about $90 per ton — a third-party figure from across the river, but a fair indication that dumping here is expensive rather than free. That cost is exactly why sorting properly at your house is not just a nice gesture: every piece that goes to a partner is weight nobody pays to bury.
Flat and photo-quoted. One or two pieces price per item; an attic, a cellar, a shed or a whole house prices as truck-fill; loose material prices by the cubic yard. The carry — down from the attic, up out of the cellar — is in the number, as is the sorting and the disposal, and there is no Maryland sales tax on the service.
| Item | Flat price |
|---|---|
| Box of books | $47 |
| Lawn mower | $88 |
| TV (medium) | $91 |
| Bed frame | $92 |
| Area rug (large) | $92 |
| Bookshelf | $97 |
| Dehumidifier | $104 |
| Mattress — queen | $139 |
| Window AC (large) | $147 |
| Dresser | $169 |
| Sofa / couch | $170 |
| Chest freezer | $196 |
| Refrigerator | $221 |
Loose material — by the cubic yard
| Material | Price per cubic yard |
|---|---|
| Yard waste, brush & limbs | $119 |
| Construction & renovation debris | $162 |
Attics, cellars and whole-house clears — the truck-fill ladder
| Truck fill | Flat price |
|---|---|
| 2/8 of the truck | $325 |
| 3/8 | $455 |
| 4/8 (half truck) | $580 |
| 5/8 | $690 |
| 6/8 | $790 |
| 7/8 | $890 |
| Full truck (8/8) | $985 |
$75 order minimum. For an attic or a cellar, photograph the room rather than counting boxes — truck-fill comes in well below the same contents priced piece by piece, and books, textiles and papers add up fast in a house that has been read in for a century. No Maryland sales tax on the service.
For an outside benchmark, HomeGuide's 2026 cost research puts national franchise junk removal at roughly $400–$600 for a half truck and $700–$1,000 for a full truck, priced by volume and usually confirmed only after an on-site estimate. Ours is quoted from a photograph before anyone drives to your street, and includes the sorting and the donation routing rather than treating them as an extra.
| Option | Cost | Speed | The catch |
|---|---|---|---|
| Montgomery County bulk collection | Free / county program | Scheduled or on-call | Item caps and exclusions apply (confirm with MoCo DEP); renovation debris generally excluded; you carry everything down from the attic and out to the collection point yourself |
| Donate it yourself | Free | Days–weeks | Partners take clean, resellable furniture — not plaster, not the dehumidifier, not sixty boxes of paper; pickup slots book out and the attic stays full |
| Curb it and hope | Free | Hours–days | Works for a good bookshelf on a nice day; leaves a mattress and a fridge sitting on a tree-lined street, which is a fine way to annoy the whole block |
| Franchise hauler | ≈$400–$600 half truck, $700–$1,000 full (HomeGuide 2026) | 1–3 days | Volume-priced after an on-site estimate, and "we recycle" is rarely itemised into where anything actually went |
| JunkRabbit | From $75 · truck-fill $325–$985 · debris $162/cu yd · no MD tax | Same day / same week | None — flat photo price, we carry it down, donation-first with documentation and a straight answer on what couldn't be recycled |
Yes — the county runs its own scheduled and on-call bulk collection, and for a handful of items with a flexible timeline it is the sensible, free answer. We will always say so. What we won't do is quote a cap we can't stand behind: like every county programme here it carries item caps and exclusions that change over time. Confirm the current limits and accepted materials with the Montgomery County Department of Environmental Protection before you plan around them.
Three limits show up over and over in this particular town. An old Victorian's attic and cellar is not a capped curbside appointment. A century-old house that has had the same family in it for thirty years holds furniture, books by the shelf-load, papers, textiles, a dehumidifier that ran through twenty summers and a chest freezer that was retired rather than removed — and every bit of it is on the wrong floor. Counting that out into appointments is not a plan; it is several months of Saturdays.
Restoration debris is generally excluded outright. Takoma Park is a town that restores its houses rather than replacing them, and a 1910 house being put right produces plaster and lath, old cabinetry, trim offcuts, torn-out flooring and porch boards. Those are precisely the materials county bulk programmes don't take. We price them by volume — construction and renovation debris $162 per cubic yard, yard waste $119 per cubic yard — and take them in the same visit as everything else.
And it isn't today. A county appointment is a scheduled thing. A closing date, a contractor starting Monday, a parent's house that has to be emptied while family is in town — those aren't scheduled things. That gap is our lane, and it is the only honest reason to pay for something the county will otherwise do for nothing.
Period houses fight back, and that's the job. A Takoma Park Victorian has a staircase that is steeper and narrower than anything built since, usually turning on a landing with a newel post exactly where a dresser wants to be. The attic above it is reached by a stair built for a person and a suitcase, with headroom that puts a grown adult at a permanent stoop for the whole carry. Below, the cellar is often reached by exterior bulkhead steps — short, steep, and open to the weather — rather than by anything you'd call a staircase. We plan the route before we lift, blanket the pivots, take doors off their hinges where a turn won't take a piece, and break large items down in place rather than forcing them past hundred-year-old trim. There's no stair fee, no attic surcharge and no charge for the cellar carry.
Outside, the streets are the other constraint. Takoma Park's roads are narrow, tree-lined and frequently parked solid on both sides, with mature canopy overhead. We size and position the truck accordingly, keep the road passable for neighbours, and don't leave anything stacked at the curb between loads — on streets like these, a pile out front is everyone's problem, not just yours.
And the house gets protected. Original floors, stair treads, plaster walls and door casings in a restored period home are not replaceable, so runners go down, corners get covered, and the crew moves at the speed the house requires rather than the speed the schedule would prefer.
"Bungalow basement and attic cleared, carried up and out, swept clean. Flat price, no tax line. Didn't lift a thing."
"Cleared the house before listing — donation-routed, broom-clean, no sales tax in Maryland. Professional."
"Old couch and a fridge gone same-day. Photo, flat price, easy. Highly recommend."
How much does it cost in Takoma Park?
Flat, photo-quoted: box of books $47, lawn mower $88, medium TV $91, bed frame $92, large area rug $92, bookshelf $97, dehumidifier $104, queen mattress $139, large window AC $147, dresser $169, sofa $170, chest freezer $196, refrigerator $221. Yard waste $119/cu yd, renovation debris $162/cu yd. Attics, cellars and whole houses run the truck-fill ladder — $325 at 2/8 up to $985 full. $75 order minimum, no Maryland sales tax on the service.
Where does it go?
Donation first — A Wider Circle in Silver Spring (with documentation), Habitat ReStore, Goodwill, Salvation Army. Then metal to scrap, e-waste to county recycling, refrigerant recovered under EPA rules, chemicals separated. The genuine remainder tips at Shady Grove in Derwood.
Do you recycle mattresses?
Not guaranteed, and we won't claim it. There's no statewide mattress-recycling mandate in MD, DC or VA — recyclers exist and we use them when they have capacity; otherwise it's disposed of properly and we'll say so. Queen $139 either way.
Is this the Maryland Takoma Park or DC's Takoma?
This page is Takoma Park, MD 20912, in Montgomery County. DC's Takoma is 20012 — different programme, and DC taxes the service. See the Petworth & Brightwood page for the District side.
Won't the county take it for free?
For a few items, yes — scheduled and on-call bulk collection with caps and exclusions; confirm with MoCo DEP. But an attic and cellar isn't a capped appointment, restoration debris is generally excluded, and it isn't same-day.
Can you get a dresser down my attic stairs?
Yes — planned route, blanketed pivots, doors off hinges where a turn won't take it, broken down in place if the staircase won't allow it. No stair fee.
Do you take plaster and old lath?
Yes, as construction debris at $162 per cubic yard — the category county bulk programmes generally exclude.
Is there sales tax?
No. Maryland doesn't tax this service, so there's no tax line on a 20912 bill. Only DC taxes it.
Flat and photo-quoted. Single pieces: box of books $47, lawn mower $88, medium TV $91, bed frame $92, large area rug $92, bookshelf $97, dehumidifier $104, queen mattress $139, large window air conditioner $147, dresser $169, sofa $170, chest freezer $196, refrigerator $221. Loose material prices by volume — yard waste $119 per cubic yard, construction and renovation debris $162 per cubic yard. An attic, a cellar or a whole house prices as truck-fill: 2/8 of the truck $325, 3/8 $455, 4/8 $580, 5/8 $690, 6/8 $790, 7/8 $890, a full truck $985. The order minimum is $75, and there is no Maryland sales tax on the service.
Donation first, then by material, and we will tell you which is which. Usable furniture and household goods go to A Wider Circle in Silver Spring — the next town over — which furnishes homes for families leaving homelessness and issues donation documentation, plus Habitat for Humanity ReStore, Goodwill of Greater Washington and the Salvation Army. Metal goes to scrap. Televisions, monitors and computers go to Montgomery County e-waste recycling drop-offs. Refrigerators, freezers, window air conditioners and dehumidifiers get EPA-certified refrigerant recovery before disposal. Paint and household chemicals are separated for the county's household-hazardous-waste channels. What is genuinely finished tips at the county's Shady Grove Processing Facility and Transfer Station in Derwood.
No. Maryland does not tax junk removal as a service, so there is no sales-tax line on your Takoma Park bill — the flat quote is the total. Note the address discipline while you are checking: Takoma Park, Maryland is 20912 and sits in Montgomery County, while Takoma in the District is 20012 and is taxed, because DC is the only DMV jurisdiction that taxes this service. Two neighbourhoods, one name, different rules.
Yes, and in this town that is most of the work. Period houses here have steep, narrow staircases that turn on a landing, attics with headroom that puts an adult at a permanent stoop, and cellars reached by exterior bulkhead steps rather than a modern stair. We plan the route, blanket the pivots, take doors off hinges where a turn will not take a dresser, and break large pieces down in place rather than forcing them past a hundred-year-old newel post. There is no stair fee and no attic or cellar surcharge.
Yes — construction and renovation debris prices by volume at $162 per cubic yard, and yard waste at $119 per cubic yard. Plaster, lath, old cabinetry, trim offcuts, torn-out flooring and porch boards are exactly the categories county bulk programmes generally exclude, which is why a restoration project in a 1910 house usually needs a private hauler at some point regardless of how patient you are.
HomeGuide's 2026 cost research puts national franchise junk removal at roughly $400 to $600 for a half truck and $700 to $1,000 for a full truck, priced by volume and normally confirmed only after an on-site estimate. Ours is quoted from photographs before anyone drives out, includes the carry down from the attic or up from the cellar, includes the sorting, and carries no Maryland sales tax. Disposal is a real cost sitting behind it either way — the county's Shady Grove transfer station charges collectors by the ton — which is precisely why sorting for donation at your house rather than at the scale is in everyone's interest.