The short answer

A load leaves your address and gets separated into four streams: things that can be reused, metal that can be scrapped, materials a facility will accept for recovery, and the remainder, which is landfilled.

Nobody should promise you a recovery percentage they cannot evidence. What we commit to is that the load gets sorted and goes to a permitted facility, not to a bayou access road or a vacant lot.

Stream one: reuse

The best outcome and the smallest one. Working appliances, solid wood furniture, tools, bicycles and sealed household goods can find a second home through charities and reuse channels.

Houston limits this more than most cities do, and the limit is humidity. Upholstered furniture and mattresses that have been in an unconditioned garage, an attic or a house with the air conditioning off pick up mildew quickly, and mildew disqualifies an item from almost every reuse route. Particleboard that has been in the same conditions swells at the joints and is no longer structurally sound.

Anything that has been in floodwater is out of this stream completely and correctly. Bayou water is not clean water.

Stream two: metal

Reliable and genuinely valuable. Refrigerators, washers, dryers, ranges, water heaters, AC condensers, bed frames, filing cabinets, metal shelving, exercise equipment frames, and the spring units inside mattresses all carry recoverable steel.

Houston has a deep industrial scrap economy — this is a port and refining region and metal has always moved here — so this stream works well. It is also why a working washer left visible at the front of a house in this city frequently disappears within a day. That is not a myth, and if that is all you have, it is worth a try before you pay anybody.

Stream three: materials with a facility that takes them

Cardboard, clean wood, concrete and masonry, some electronics and some yard waste have real recovery routes when they arrive clean and separated. Mixed with everything else, they usually do not.

That is the argument for keeping a renovation load separate from a household load. Clean concrete and masonry is priced separately at $219 per quarter truck precisely because it goes somewhere different from a sofa.

Electronics vary by what is in them and what a processor is taking. A television is $62 under 42 inches, $68 from 42 to 65 and $73 above that, and it goes to an electronics handler rather than into a general load.

Stream four: landfill

Here is the part that gets glossed over elsewhere. Mixed upholstery, mildewed mattresses, damaged particleboard, carpet and pad, flood-contaminated anything — these go to landfill, because no recovery route exists for them in this region at present.

In Houston that is a larger share than in a dry city, and it is a direct consequence of the climate and the flooding. We would rather tell you that than imply a load of water-damaged furniture from a ground floor in Meyerland gets recycled, because it does not.

What we will not do is pretend otherwise to make a sale, and what we will not do is save the tipping fee by leaving it somewhere it should not be.

The dumping problem, and why it is your problem too

This metro has a persistent illegal dumping issue: bayou access roads, the edges of vacant lots, the seams between industrial and residential blocks that having no zoning produces everywhere, and rural county roads just past the last subdivision.

The reason it matters to you is traceability. Household loads carry labels, boxes carry addresses, and a dumped pile can be linked back to the household it came from rather than to whoever dropped it. Paying someone a suspiciously low price does not transfer that risk.

Ask where the load goes. It is a fair question and it takes one sentence to answer.

What you can do to improve the outcome

  • Separate anything genuinely working and dry — it has the best chance and it takes five minutes.
  • Keep renovation debris out of the household load. Concrete at $219 a quarter truck goes to a different place than furniture.
  • Do not let good things sit in a garage through a summer waiting for a decision. The humidity makes that decision for you.
  • Pull out documents and anything sentimental before the crew arrives, not during.

Frequently asked questions

Do you recycle everything you collect?

No, and nobody honestly can. Metal is recovered reliably, working goods are re-homed where a charity will take them, and materials with a facility route are separated. The remainder is landfilled at a permitted site.

Why is so little upholstery reused in Houston?

Humidity. Fabric and foam stored in unconditioned garages, attics or unairconditioned rooms pick up mildew quickly, and mildew disqualifies an item from essentially every reuse route.

What happens to a flood-damaged load?

It is treated as contaminated and goes to landfill. No reuse or recovery route accepts material that has been in floodwater, and it should not.

Can I be held responsible if my hauler dumps my furniture?

Dumped household loads are frequently traced back through labels and addressed packaging to the household they came from. That is the practical reason to ask where a load is going before you hand it over.

Is there any point separating things myself?

Yes. Pulling out working, dry items and keeping renovation debris separate from household goods measurably improves what can be recovered — and concrete and masonry price separately at $219 per quarter truck anyway.