How to get rid of stuff in Charlotte

From the editor

André Ribeirinho Editor, JunkSpots Charlotte Updated 19 August 2026

What residents need to know

Where things go in Charlotte

Every option in this guide, arranged by the thing you are getting rid of. A missing name is not a refusal. It means nobody has told us either way, which is worth asking about before you make the trip.

Schedule the collection before you put anything out. Apartments, condominiums and townhomes are covered by the city, so check with your building before assuming otherwise.

Scheduled bulky collection, like furniture. Small businesses cannot use it; it is a residential service only.

Appliances must never go in a rollout cart, schedule them as a bulky item instead. CharMeck 311 on 704-336-7600 covers anything the online request does not.

Mecklenburg County takes electronics free at its full-service centres, and for most people that is the answer. Take proof that you live in the county, and expect a limit on how much you can bring at once. The city's bulky collection will also take them from the kerb, but only from households: a small business has no free route here.

Nothing in Charlotte charges for clothes and textiles. The Salvation Army will collect from your door once you book, and the receipt is tax deductible. Buy Nothing works the other way round, neighbour to neighbour, inside your own group. The county centres take textiles too if you would rather drop them off with everything else.

One route, and it belongs to the county. Household hazardous waste and paint go to a Mecklenburg County full-service centre, free, with proof of address. Nothing in this guide collects either from your home, and businesses are excluded.

The words Charlotte uses

These are the terms on the city's own pages. They stay in the local language here for the same reason they do on a form: the English version will not get you to the right page.

rollout cart

The wheeled bin the city collects each week. Appliances must never go in one. They have to be scheduled as a bulky item instead.

bulky item collection

One of Charlotte's four core collection services, alongside garbage, recycling and yard waste, rather than a paid extra. It still has to be scheduled. Apartments, condominiums and townhomes are covered; small businesses are not eligible at all.

CharMeck 311

The joint city-county service line, on 704-336-7600. It is the number for anything the online service request does not cover.

full-service recycling center

One of Mecklenburg County's four sites, the county's, not the city's, and where everything the kerbside collection refuses actually goes: electronics, paint, chemicals, batteries and fluorescent tubes, free for county residents, Monday to Saturday.

blue entry sticker

Ask for it at the fee booth of a county recycling centre. It costs residents nothing, and it needs proof that you live in the county.

household hazardous waste

Paint, chemicals, pool products, fuels, fluorescent tubes and rechargeable batteries, free to county residents at the four full-service centres. Bulky waste, construction debris and yard waste at those same sites are charged.

Things that catch people out

• Schedule bulky collection before you put anything out. Appliances especially. They must never go in a rollout cart.
• Small businesses cannot use bulky item collection. That is a residential service only.
• Apartments, condominiums and townhomes are covered by the city, so check with your building before assuming otherwise.
• CharMeck 311 on 704-336-7600 is the number for anything the online request does not cover.

What it costs in Charlotte

What each option charges, in its own words, with the date we last read it. We publish no price of our own: a number we typed would go stale before the sentence it came from did.

Check who is carrying it away

• Cleveland 5 options·4 free·Checked 18 Aug 2026
• Dallas 5 options·5 free·Checked 18 Aug 2026
• Knoxville 5 options·4 free·Checked 18 Aug 2026