How to get rid of stuff in Cleveland

From the editor

André Ribeirinho Editor, JunkSpots Cleveland Updated 19 August 2026

What residents need to know

Where things go in Cleveland

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.

Three bulk items per home, on your regular collection day, during the first full week of the month. Mattresses, box springs and leather or cloth furniture must be wrapped in plastic, unwrapped items get left behind.

Must be wrapped in plastic before collection. This is the rule most often missed here, and an unwrapped mattress simply stays on the kerb.

The city already collects appliances as part of the service you pay for, so the free route is one you are funding anyway. If you would rather move it yourself, the transfer stations take four visits a year, up to four cubic yards a visit. Fast Junk and Moving is the paid option when you want someone else to carry it.

Televisions go out with the monthly bulk collection; computers and phones go to the Carr Center year round. Ohio has no landfill ban on electronics, unlike many states, so binning a television here is legal. It is still the worst option available.

The city's bulk collection does not cover clothes, so this is charity and neighbours. The Salvation Army books a pickup and leaves a receipt for tax. Buy Nothing needs you to be in the local group before you can post, and everything on it is given rather than sold.

Household chemicals are taken on the FIRST FRIDAY of the month only, at Carr Center and Ridge Road. Latex paint is never accepted. It has to be dried out and binned.

The words Cleveland 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.

bulk item

The city's term for what it collects in the first full week of each month, capped at three per home on your normal collection day. Household furniture and appliances only, boxes and bags do not count as bulk.

opt-in recycling

Cleveland's recycling is not automatic. You have to enrol to get a blue cart, through CLErecycles.com or by calling 311: "There is no additional cost to enroll", and if you never enrolled, you have no recycling collection at all.

transfer station

The Ridge Road Transfer Station, on the west side. Residents can take bulky waste there free four times a year, up to four cubic yards a visit, which is the answer when three items a month is not enough.

household hazardous waste

Taken on the first Friday of the month only, at the Carr Center and at Ridge Road, turn up on any other day and nobody can help you. Latex paint is never accepted: the city's position is that it is not hazardous, so it has to be dried out with an absorbent and binned.

construction and demolition waste

Refused everywhere the city collects, concrete, wood, brick, drywall, shingles, siding, toilets and sinks.

Things that catch people out

• Cleveland recycling is OPT-IN. You have to enrol to get a blue cart: "There is no additional cost to enroll", via CLErecycles.com or by calling 311. If you never enrolled, you have no recycling collection.
• Three bulk items per home, on your regular collection day, during the first full week of the month.
• Mattresses, box springs and leather or cloth furniture must be wrapped in plastic. Unwrapped items get left behind.
• Household chemicals are taken on the FIRST FRIDAY of the month only, at Carr Center and Ridge Road. Latex paint is never accepted, dry it out and bin it.
• Televisions go out with the monthly bulk collection. Computers and phones go to Carr Center, year round.
• Ohio has no landfill ban on electronics, unlike many states, so binning a television here is legal. It is still the worst option, and Best Buy takes tube sets up to 31 inches and flat panels under 49 inches for a small fee, two per household per day.
• Four free drop-offs a year at Ridge Road, up to four cubic yards a visit, if the monthly allowance is not enough.
• Construction and demolition waste is refused everywhere the city collects, concrete, wood, brick, drywall, shingles, siding, toilets and sinks.

What it costs in Cleveland

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.

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