Getting rid of bulky items in Los Angeles

Free pickup in the City of LA

Most of the Valley, including Woodland Hills, Tarzana, Encino, Sherman Oaks, Studio City, Porter Ranch, and Granada Hills, is in the City of Los Angeles. If LA Sanitation & Environment collects your trash and your home has one to four units, bulky item pickup is included at no extra charge.

How to schedule it

1. Make a list of every item. LA Sanitation uses it to send the right truck, and drivers can only collect the items on their work order.
2. Schedule at least one business day before your regular trash day. Use the MyLA311 app or website, or call the 24-hour Customer Care Center at 1-800-773-2489.
3. Put the items out for your regular trash day. That's when bulky items are collected.
4. Prep the awkward ones. Roll and tie carpet. Take the doors off refrigerators and freezers before they go out.

What it takes

• Furniture: couches, tables, and chairs, including old patio furniture.
• Mattresses and box springs.
• Toilets and sinks.
• Carpet, rolled and tied.
• Large wood pieces and doors.
• Electronics: TVs, computers, and monitors.
• Metal household appliances: refrigerators and freezers, washers and dryers, dishwashers, air conditioners, and water heaters. LA Sanitation picks these up at no extra cost, but they often come on a different truck, so list them when you schedule.

Apartment buildings

Buildings with five or more units usually get trash service from a recycLA hauler, but bulky items are different. LA Sanitation picks up large household items from multifamily residential buildings of five or more units. Call the Customer Care Center at 1-800-773-2489 or use the MyLA311 app to make an appointment, and have an itemized list ready.

The service is paid for through a Multi-Family Bulky Item Fee on LADWP bills. The City Council raised that fee in October 2025, and the new rates started appearing on bills in November 2025. When a unit has its own electric meter, the fee is split between the owner and the tenant.

What the city won't take, and where it goes

LA Sanitation's bulky pickup excludes hazardous materials, construction debris, and a few other categories. Here's where those go instead.

S.A.F.E. Centers in the Valley

• Randall Street S.A.F.E. Center, 11025 Randall Street, Sun Valley. Open Saturdays and Sundays, 9 a.m. to 3 p.m. Closed each winter from December 24 to January 3.
• Nicole Bernson S.A.F.E. Center in Northridge. Check LA Sanitation's S.A.F.E. Center page for its hours.

S.A.F.E. Centers take household hazardous waste and electronics, up to 15 gallons or 125 pounds per visit. The Randall Street center says the service is free for residents.

Free drop-off days

If you'd rather not wait for your trash day, LA Sanitation takes bulky items at five sites around the city once a month, on a Saturday from 8 a.m. to 4:30 p.m. The drop-off sites take furniture, carpet, yard trimmings, shelving, and wood. Two are in the Valley:

• East Valley: 11050 Pendleton St., Sun Valley.
• West Valley: 8840 Vanalden Ave., Northridge.

Mattresses

• City of LA: mattresses and box springs go out with a scheduled bulky item pickup, at no charge.
• Buying a new one: under California law, a retailer delivering a new mattress has to offer to pick up a used one at no extra charge. If you order online and it ships by carrier, the retailer has to offer to arrange a pickup within 30 days of delivery. A retailer can refuse a mattress that's contaminated and poses a risk to its workers.
• Drop it off yourself: Bye Bye Mattress, run by the nonprofit Mattress Recycling Council, takes mattresses at participating drop-off sites at no cost. Its site has a locator.

Calabasas, Thousand Oaks, and other cities

Each city sets its own bulky item rules through its hauler, and the limits are a lot tighter outside LA.

Hidden Hills, Agoura Hills, Westlake Village, and other cities set their own rules. Check your city's website or your hauler.

Don't leave it on the curb

Putting a couch out on the sidewalk and hoping it disappears is illegal dumping. The City of LA says "it's against the law to discard old sofas, refrigerators, mattresses and other large household items on the curb," and asks residents to contact the city before putting bulky items out.

LA County Public Works defines illegal dumping as "any unauthorized disposal of waste on any public or private property." It says illegal dumping is punishable by a fine of up to $10,000 under California Penal Code 374.3, and by up to six months in jail under the Health and Safety Code.

Seeing dumped items on your street?

• City of LA: report it to 311 or in the MyLA311 app.
• Unincorporated LA County: call (888) CLEAN-LA, (888) 253-2652, or email dumping@pw.lacounty.gov with the location and the items.

When it's easier to have it hauled

The city's pickup is free, but it's curbside and on the city's schedule. You still have to get everything to the street, on your trash day, and the hazardous and construction items still go somewhere else. Hiring someone makes sense when:

• The items are heavy or deep in a backyard, side yard, or garage.
• You're clearing out a lot at once, like a garage, a yard, or a unit between tenants.
• You're on a deadline, like a move-out or a listing.
• You're outside the City of LA and have already used your free pickups for the year.

Questions to ask before anyone loads a truck

1. What's the price, and is it in writing? Get the total, or how it's figured, before loading starts.
2. Where is it going? Donation, recycling, or a landfill or transfer station. Anything good enough to reuse can often be donated.
3. What won't you take? Paint and chemicals usually still need a S.A.F.E. Center.
4. Will you clean up after? Ask whether they'll sweep or rake the area once the pile is gone.

If what you're clearing is mostly yard waste, our guide to what goes in the green bin covers LA Sanitation's free annual brush pickup.