Greener Ways to Dispose: Garbage Collection for Large Items in Austin

No matter how you slice it, getting rid of a bulky item is a challenge. It becomes even more difficult when you’re determined to be mindful of how and where you choose to dispose. Garbage collection services through Austin Resource Recovery may seem like the most sustainable option, especially considering the strong emphasis placed on the City’s Zero Waste goal, but they’re limited when it comes to bulk collection. Municipal pickup for large items may also not be quite as green as you imagine, and services are so limited they may also be far from ideally suited to your needs.

When you’re trying to get rid of items too big to fit into a curbside pickup bin, it’s usually part of a larger and more involved project of which waste management is only a single aspect. Whether you’re doing the emotionally and physically exhausting work of managing a loved one’s estate, hoarding mitigation, planning for a big move, or just trying to reclaim space in a cramped home, it’s vital to have a reliable and ethical disposal solution in place before you begin. 

The Differences in How You Dispose: Garbage Collection Options

For most large projects, time is a pressing concern. Unless you’re facing only self-imposed deadlines, you’re likely to find you simply cannot wait for the one week of bulk waste collection through Austin Resource Recovery each year. Even if you do find that your schedule and the City’s aligns, there are some things you’ll need to consider before settling on municipal bulk collection as your sole waste management solution.

First and foremost, specific items too large to fit into a container are the only items that you can dispose of. Garbage collection services throughout the year are for containerized items. Too many bags or bins to fit into a curbside bin do not qualify as “bulk waste.” These are simply considered extra trash and subject to extra trash fees. Furniture, appliances, passenger car tires removed from rims, rolled fencing, nail-free lumber, lawn mowers with gas and/or oil removed, pallets, carpets, doors, and railroad ties that have been cut in half can all be stacked neatly at the curb for collection after they’ve been separated into three piles: metal items (including appliances), non-metal items, and tires.

Metal items and tires are taken to the appropriate recycling facilities, but all non-metal items will be taken to the landfill, which may come as a shock to Austin residents who are accustomed to the City’s strong push to meet the Zero Waste goal. Despite this lofty aspiration, there are currently no resources in place to ensure things like furniture, household items and lumber are reclaimed, donated or recycled. This means a significant portion of all that’s placed out during bulk collection week will be dumped in the local landfill, regardless of its condition. 

This is, of course, after you’ve done the hard work of hauling those heavy, awkward items down to the curb, taking care to ensure all three of your distinctly separate piles are kept at least five feet from any walls, fences, telephone connection boxes, water meters, parked cars or mailboxes. If you’re not able to wrestle those bulky items out of your home and down to the curb, there are few options available to you for municipal bulk waste collection.

Most of the time, life doesn’t cooperate with a municipal schedule. Closing an estate, working to get a rental property back on the market or making a big move means hard and fast deadlines, and missing those deadlines can quickly become very expensive. When time is money, working with a private hauler who shares your commitment to doing what’s right for the planet can be an efficient, economical and ethical choice.

Choosing the Right Disposal Option for You

There’s more to private waste management than hauling away a pile left at the curb. Anyone can load a truck with items left on the sidewalk; true white-glove service is rarer and significantly more convenient. At Jiffy Junk, we’ve built our business around providing the very best in full-service, white glove waste removal without sacrificing the health of the planet in the process. We work hard to not only minimize the stress of a big project but also the environmental impact, so you can enjoy the fruits of your labor with a conscience as clean as your immaculate space.

Our trained and experienced removal technicians come to your home or place of business to remove just about anything you can imagine, no heavy lifting required on your part. We’ll uninstall appliances before we haul them away, tear up old carpeting you want to dispose of, and move heavy furniture from where it sits down to our truck. Anything in usable condition is separated for delivery to local donation centers, because we believe these items should stay in the community where they can help those in need rather than taking up space in a landfill. Anything we can’t donate, we work hard to find sustainable disposal solutions for that do not involve the landfill, even seeking out recycling options municipal waste management systems may overlook in our quest to continually shrink our environmental impact. 

In the end, you’re able to make a single phone call to get rid of everything, no questions asked. We’ll load up and haul away your unwanted furniture, outgrown and outdated clothing, broken appliances and assorted trash to leave your space swept clean and ready for anything you have planned. There’s never a need to drag things down to the curb, to worry about what can or cannot be disposed of or what might be left behind when it’s all said and done. 

Contact us today to learn more about our greener bulk disposal systems and how we can clear away even the biggest messes in short order with a single phone call, so you can focus on all the aspects of your project only you can manage.