Five things bulk pickup will not take in Houston

First, whose rules apply to you

There is no single bulky program here. The City of Houston, Bellaire, West University Place, Pearland, Sugar Land, Missouri City and the Katy-area cities all set their own, and large unincorporated stretches of Harris County have no municipal bulky collection at all — just a MUD or subdivision contract with a private hauler.

So read your own city's current bulky-item page for the specifics. What follows is the shape of the exclusions, which is remarkably consistent even when the detail is not.

1. Anything containing refrigerant

Refrigerators, freezers, wine coolers, window air conditioners, portable units and outdoor condensers. The refrigerant has to be recovered by someone qualified before the metal can be scrapped, and a curbside truck cannot do that.

In Houston this is the biggest exclusion by volume, because air conditioning runs most of the year here and units wear out fast, and because every house has a garage refrigerator that eventually dies.

Our prices, with the refrigerant recovery included and no separate fee: standard refrigerator $164, side-by-side $183, mini fridge $115, chest freezer $146, small window unit $87, large window unit $109, portable $85, outdoor condenser $115.

2. Electronics

Televisions, monitors, computers and most powered devices are excluded from bulky collection almost everywhere, because they need handling by an electronics processor rather than a general load.

The Houston version of this is the tube television in the closet of a single-story ranch house, and the second one in the garage. They are heavy, nobody takes them, and no listing will move them.

Television under 42 inches $62, 42 to 65 inches $68, over 65 inches $73. A computer monitor is $58, a desktop tower $62 and a mixed box of electronics $77.

3. Tires

Excluded essentially everywhere, and dumped everywhere as a result — tire piles are one of the most common illegal dumping finds along this region's bayou access roads and vacant parcels.

There is a specific Houston reason so many tires are sitting in garages: this is a driving metro with enormous annual mileage per household, and a two-car garage that has never held a car holds the last two sets instead.

A single tire is $22 and a set of four is $87.

4. Paint, liquids and anything hazardous

Liquid paint, solvents, chemicals, fuel, motor oil and pool chemicals are excluded from bulky collection, and rightly. A leaking container in a collection truck contaminates the whole load and everything it touches afterwards.

Houston garages accumulate these steadily — pool chemicals because so many houses have pools, generator fuel because of storm season, and paint because of repeated repainting after water.

We take sealed cans: a one-gallon can is $30 and a five-gallon bucket is $52. What we cannot take is loose or leaking liquid, or anything requiring a licensed hazardous handler — take that to a household hazardous waste event or facility, and check your own city for what it offers.

5. Construction and renovation debris

Bulky programs are for household goods, not for the results of a remodel. Drywall, lumber, tile, roofing, concrete, cabinets and old flooring are usually excluded, and the volumes involved are the reason.

This exclusion bites harder in Houston than in most cities, because so much renovation here is flood repair rather than choice, and it arrives on a schedule nobody controls. Carpet out, drywall cut above the line, cabinets out if the water reached the toe kick — that is not a bulky-collection job in any jurisdiction.

Construction debris is $120, drywall $37 a sheet or small bundle, lumber $41 a bundle, rolled carpet $68, carpet removal $71 a room, a full kitchen cabinet rip-out $293, and clean concrete $219 per quarter truck.

The honourable mentions

Three more that come up constantly here. Propane tanks — pressurised, excluded, $33 for a 20 lb tank. Yard waste mixed with household items — most programs want them separated, and yard waste is $88 with us. Anything over the volume limit, which after a storm is nearly everybody.

That last one is worth planning around. When an entire neighborhood's ground floors go out at once, the volume any municipal program can absorb is finite, and the material sits at the front of houses in the heat while it waits.

What we take, and what it costs

All five categories above, at published flat prices, from wherever the item is, with disposal included and a $75 visit minimum.

A typical mixed load that no bulky program would accept: a garage refrigerator, a tube television, a set of four tires and two cans of paint — $164 + $62 + $87 + $30 + $30 = $373. If your list is longer, compare the truck ladder: quarter $241, three-eighths $338, half $431.

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