in the DMV
TV & E-Waste Removal
in the DMV
The dead flat panel in the living room, the tube set that has been in the basement since 2004, the monitor-and-printer graveyard under the desk — hauled from the room they're in at a flat photo-quoted price: $62 small, $68 medium, $98 large. Every jurisdiction here treats electronics as a drop-off you drive to yourself. We're the version where nobody loads a car.
How TV removal works in the DMV
1 · Photograph the pile
One picture of the TV — and of anything else electronic near it. Sizing comes from the photo, so you don't need to measure the diagonal or find the model number.
2 · Flat price, then a window
An exact number comes back in seconds and it doesn't move. Pick the soonest window; if your building needs a COI, tell us the management company and we file it.
3 · Out of the unit, into recycling
An insured crew unplugs it, wraps the screen, carries it down or through the freight elevator, and the set goes to a certified electronics processor. You lift nothing.
How much does TV removal cost in DC?
Televisions price by size, everything else in the e-waste family prices per piece, and the number you're quoted already contains the carry-out, the drive and the recycling fee. Nothing on this list is an estimate that firms up later.
| Item | Flat price |
|---|---|
| Stereo / receiver | $52 |
| Large speaker | $57 |
| Monitor | $58 |
| Printer (small / desktop) | $58 |
| Desktop computer | $62 |
| TV — small | $62 |
| TV — medium | $68 |
| TV — large | $73 |
| Box of mixed electronics (cables, peripherals, small gear) | $77 |
The $100 minimum matters more on this page than anywhere else on the site. Several things in the electronics catalog sit below it — a stereo is $52, so a stereo on its own still bills at the $100 order minimum. That's not a penalty, it's the floor for sending a truck and two people to your door. The move that actually saves money is stacking: a large TV, a monitor and a printer sent in one photo is one pickup, one arrival, one flat number, instead of three trips that each have to clear the same floor.
For comparison, HomeGuide's 2026 junk-removal cost research puts a 1-800-GOT-JUNK job at roughly a $100–$150 minimum — and that number is quoted after a crew drives out and eyeballs the item, not before you book. Our $62 is the price for a small TV whether the crew has seen it or not.
DC sales tax is shown at checkout inside the District. Maryland and Virginia do not tax the service, so a Bethesda, Silver Spring, Arlington or Alexandria pickup is quoted all-in.
6 ways to get rid of a TV in the DMV
Almost every free option in this region shares one design assumption: that you own a vehicle, can lift the set into it, and have a weekday morning free. Here is the honest ladder.
| Option | Cost | Speed | The catch |
|---|---|---|---|
| County / District e-waste drop-off | Free | Their open hours | You drive it there. Limited days, resident proof required, and a 70-lb console TV has to get into your car first |
| DC DPW bulk trash (311) | Free | Scheduled appointment | Single-family homes and ≤3-unit buildings only, 7 items per appointment, curbside — and electronics are pushed to the recycling drop-offs anyway |
| Retailer take-back | Varies | Store hours | Size limits and program fees vary by retailer and change often; you still transport it, and the biggest panels are usually excluded |
| Donation | Free | Days | Working sets with a remote only — and most DMV charities have stopped accepting CRTs entirely |
| Traditional franchise hauler | ~$100–$111 minimum (HomeGuide 2026) | 1–3 days | On-site estimate first; the price isn't firm until a crew is in your living room |
| JunkRabbit | $62–$98 flat | Same day when a slot's open | None — photo price, carried out of the unit, certified recycling included |
Does Washington DC pick up TVs?
Not the way people hope. A CRT or a large flat panel is not ordinary trash anywhere in this metro — and the official answer is a drop-off, not a pickup. The District, Montgomery County, Prince George's County, Fairfax County and Arlington County each run their own separate electronics-recycling drop-off programs. That's genuinely good policy, and it's also a chore list: you find the site, you check which Saturday it's open, you bring proof you live in that jurisdiction, and — the part nobody mentions — you get the television down your stairs and into a car by yourself. For a 65-inch panel or an old console set, that first step is where the plan dies.
The bulk-trash route doesn't rescue it either. DC DPW bulk trash — requested through 311 or dpw.dc.gov — serves single-family homes and buildings of three units or fewer, allows up to seven items per appointment, and is a scheduled curbside collection. Electronics are steered toward the recycling drop-offs rather than the bulk truck, so a television is a poor fit for the program even when you qualify for it.
And a large share of this city doesn't qualify. Condos, co-ops and apartment buildings of four units or more are excluded from DC's bulk-trash program outright — those residents are required to use a private, licensed hauler. Read that against the map: a resident of a Navy Yard, NoMa, West End or Rosslyn high-rise has no free municipal path at all for the TV in their living room. The building won't take it, the bulk program isn't available to them, and the recycling drop-off still assumes a car. That's not a loophole we found — it's how the rules are written, and it's precisely the gap we exist to fill. Same story in the suburbs: Montgomery, Prince George's, Arlington, Alexandria and Fairfax each run their own scheduled bulk programs with their own item caps and exclusions, all of them appointment-based and all of them curbside.
What we take
- Televisions of every generation — 32-inch bedroom panels, 75-inch wall mounts, projection sets, and the heavy CRT tube and console TVs that drop-offs and donation partners have largely stopped accepting.
- Computers & monitors — desktop towers, all-in-ones, laptops, and the stack of monitors that accumulated through three home-office rebuilds.
- Office electronics — printers, scanners, shredders, docking stations, UPS units and the cable bin.
- Audio gear — receivers, stereo components, large floor speakers, subwoofers.
- Whole e-waste piles — a federal contractor home office being dismantled, a small-business back room, a condo turnover's worth of abandoned tech, priced as a box or as truck-fill.
- The TV plus what it sat on — send the entertainment center, media console or wall mount in the same photo and it's one number.
What happens to your TV after pickup
A television is the reason e-waste rules exist. Inside an old set there's leaded CRT glass, circuit boards carrying recoverable metals, and in newer panels lithium batteries and backlight components — none of which belong in a landfill, and all of which are why the drop-off programs exist in the first place. Everything we collect goes into a certified electronics-recycling stream where those fractions are separated: leaded glass handled as its own material, boards processed for metal recovery, batteries pulled before anything is crushed, and the plastic and steel housings recycled as commodity streams.
Before any of that, working sets get a second look. If a TV still powers on and the remote is with it, we offer it to a donation partner first — a working television is worth more to a family than to a shredder. We won't oversell this: most of what we pick up is genuinely dead, and most DMV charities no longer take tube sets at all. What we will tell you honestly is where yours went, and that it went somewhere licensed to take it. We don't publish a diversion percentage we can't verify, and we don't name a recycler we don't route to.
Stairs, plaster and freight elevators — the part that's actually hard
Big televisions live in awkward places in this region. A 75-inch panel coming out of a Georgetown Federal row house, a Capitol Hill Victorian or an Old Town Alexandria town house has to make a turn on a narrow vintage staircase without putting a corner through the plaster — so it gets wrapped and it gets two people, and in the historic districts we're also carrying it out through the rear alley rather than parking across a cobblestone street.
In the high-rise belt the constraint is paperwork, not muscle. Navy Yard, NoMa, the West End, Rosslyn, Ballston and Tysons buildings want a certificate of insurance filed 48–72 hours ahead naming the management company as additional insured, plus a reserved freight-elevator or loading-dock window. We handle both — that lead time is the one thing about a high-rise job that can't be rushed, so if your building is one of these, start the COI now and the pickup itself will be quick. Suburban jobs in Bethesda, Silver Spring, Rockville, Arlington or Vienna are simpler: driveway, basement stairs, done.
Wall-mounted? Say so in the photo caption. We bring the driver, take the set off the bracket, and the bracket goes with it if you want it gone.
When people call us about a TV
- The upgrade. A new set was delivered and the delivery crew wouldn't take the old one — which is the single most common way a working television ends up leaning against a wall for six months.
- The basement CRT. A tube TV that's been in a Petworth or Brookland basement for two decades, too heavy to carry up alone and refused by every free option.
- Home-office teardown. A federal RIF, a contract ending, or a return-to-office order, and suddenly the second monitor, the printer and the docking station are all surplus at once.
- Condo turnover. A Navy Yard or Tysons unit being flipped between tenants, with whatever the last resident left behind — and no bulk-trash option available to the building.
- May move-out. UMD, Georgetown, GWU, Howard, American and Catholic all empty out in the same few weeks, and dorm-room TVs and monitors don't go home in a packed car.
- A PCS move. Electronics are rarely worth shipping on a military relocation — the set stays, the family goes.
Why the DMV chooses JunkRabbit for e-waste
- The price is the price. $62, $68 or $98 by size, quoted from a photo before anyone drives anywhere — no on-site re-estimate, no oversize upcharge for a 75-inch panel.
- We're the licensed private hauler the rules point at. Condo, co-op and 4+ unit residents in DC are required to use one. That's us, insured and COI-ready.
- No car, no drop-off, no Saturday. The set leaves from where it stands, not from the curb and not from your trunk.
- Certified recycling, honestly described. Leaded glass, boards and batteries separated; working sets offered to donation first; no invented diversion statistics.
- One quote for the whole pile. TV, monitor, printer, stereo and the cable bin priced together — the cheapest way to clear electronics in a city with a $100 order floor.
What customers say
"Three old TVs and a pile of monitors gone, recycled responsibly. Flat price from a photo. Easy."
"Cleared out the home office e-waste with the furniture in one quote. Fast and fair."
"Old tube TV nobody would take — hauled it and recycled it right. Glad it didn't go to the landfill."
TV & e-waste removal questions, answered
How much does TV removal cost in DC?
Flat by size: small $62, medium $68, large $73. Monitor $58, desktop $62, small printer $58, stereo $52, large speaker $57, box of mixed electronics $57. The order minimum is $100, so a lone $52 stereo bills at $100 — stack it with the monitor and printer instead. Carry-out and certified recycling included.
Can I just put it in the trash?
No. A CRT or large flat panel isn't ordinary trash here. DC, Montgomery, Prince George's, Fairfax and Arlington all run separate e-waste recycling drop-offs — meaning you drive it there on their hours, not that anyone collects it.
Will DC DPW bulk trash take it?
Bulk trash (311 / dpw.dc.gov) covers single-family homes and buildings of three units or fewer, caps at seven items per appointment, and steers electronics to the recycling drop-offs. Condos, co-ops and 4+ unit buildings are excluded outright and must hire a private licensed hauler.
Do you take old CRT tube TVs?
Yes — including console sets. The leaded glass that makes them unwelcome elsewhere is exactly what the certified stream is built to handle. Priced on the same $62–$98 size ladder.
Is it cheaper than a franchise hauler?
For one TV, usually — and always more certain. HomeGuide's 2026 research puts 1-800-GOT-JUNK at roughly a $100–$150 minimum, quoted on site. Ours is quoted from a photo before you book.
Do you carry it down the stairs?
Always. Wrapped, two people, down the narrow row-house staircase or through the freight elevator. No curb-drag, no stair fee.
My building needs a COI — can you still come today?
The pickup can be quick, but the COI can't. Navy Yard, NoMa, Rosslyn, Ballston and Tysons buildings typically want it filed 48–72 hours ahead. Send us the management company's name now and we'll start it.
TV removal across the DMV
Frequently asked questions
Can I put an old TV in the trash in DC?
No. A CRT tube set or a large flat panel is not ordinary household trash. The District, Montgomery County, Prince George's County, Fairfax County and Arlington County each run separate electronics-recycling drop-offs — which means the accepted route is you loading the set into a car and driving it there during their open hours, not anyone collecting it from your home. We collect it instead, from the room it is sitting in.
Will DC bulk trash take my television?
DC DPW bulk trash, booked through 311 or dpw.dc.gov, serves single-family homes and buildings of three units or fewer, and caps each appointment at seven items. Electronics are steered to the District's e-waste recycling drop-offs rather than the bulk truck. Condos, co-ops and apartment buildings of four or more units are excluded from the program entirely and must use a private licensed hauler — so a Navy Yard or Rosslyn high-rise resident has no free municipal path at all.
Do you take CRT tube TVs?
Yes, including the heavy console and tube sets almost nobody else wants. A CRT contains leaded glass, which is exactly why the drop-off programs and most donation partners have stopped accepting them. Ours go into a certified electronics stream where the leaded glass, circuit boards and batteries are separated out. Price is by size, the same $62 to $98 ladder as a flat panel.
Is it cheaper than 1-800-GOT-JUNK for one TV?
For a single television it usually is, and the bigger difference is that you know the number first. HomeGuide's 2026 cost research puts a 1-800-GOT-JUNK job at roughly a $100 to $150 minimum, quoted after a crew has come out and looked. Our $62 small, $68 medium and $98 large are quoted from a photo in seconds and include the carry-out and the recycling.
Do you carry the TV down, or do I bring it to the curb?
We carry it. A 75-inch panel comes down Georgetown, Capitol Hill or Old Town Alexandria stairs on our shoulders, wrapped so it does not catch the plaster on the turn. In a Navy Yard, NoMa or Tysons tower we file the certificate of insurance 48 to 72 hours ahead and book the freight elevator. You never drag anything to the curb.
Can you clear a whole home office of electronics at once?
Yes, and it is the cheapest way to do it. A monitor at $58, a desktop at $62, a printer at $58 and a stereo at $52 priced as four separate trips would be four separate minimums; sent as one photo they are one pickup, one arrival, one flat number. Mixed cables, peripherals and small gear go by the $77 box of electronics.
Ready to Get It Gone?
Send a photo and get one flat price back in seconds — carry-out, hauling and disposal are all in it.
Upload Photos & Get Your QuotePrefer texting? 💬 Text (202) 663-7800 — send a photo, get the price.