5 things metro Atlanta bulk pickup will not take

First, there is no single Atlanta bulk program

Worth saying before anything else, because it is the thing people get wrong.

The City of Atlanta, unincorporated DeKalb, unincorporated Fulton, Cobb, Gwinnett and Clayton counties, and the individual cities — Decatur, Brookhaven, Dunwoody, Sandy Springs, Chamblee, Smyrna, Tucker, Avondale Estates, College Park — each run their own bulk-item arrangements. If you live in an unincorporated pocket served by a private hauler, your service contract is the rule.

So always check your own jurisdiction's current page. What follows is the pattern of exclusions that recurs across metro programs, not a statement about any one of them.

And if you rent, none of it applies: apartment communities contract private waste service, and anything left by the compactor is an abandoned item charged back to a tenant.

1. Anything with refrigerant

Refrigerators, freezers, window and portable air conditioners, heat pumps, dehumidifiers and mini fridges.

The refrigerant has to be recovered by someone certified before the shell is scrapped, which means it needs a facility set up for it. That is why these are so commonly excluded from ordinary bulk collection or handled under a separate arrangement.

There is a second problem specific to leaving them out: scrappers cut them open in the street for the copper, the refrigerant vents, and you are left with a gutted shell that is unambiguously yours.

All of those include refrigerant handling with no surcharge. Fridge $164 + chest freezer $146 = $310 is the standard Atlanta basement-garage job.

2. Household hazardous waste

Paint, solvents, thinners, pesticides, fertiliser, pool chemicals, motor oil, antifreeze, car batteries, propane tanks, fluorescent tubes.

None of it goes on a bulk truck and none of it goes on ours either. Counties across the metro run periodic household hazardous waste collection events and some have standing arrangements — check what your county currently offers and hold these items for one.

The Atlanta-specific version of this problem: the shelf at the back of the carport or the basement garage. Because so much of the housing stock here has covered outdoor storage, households accumulate decades of half-used paint and lawn chemicals, and it all surfaces at once during an estate or garage cleanout. Separate it out before the day rather than burying it in a bin.

Propane tanks specifically: take the tank off the grill and deal with it through an exchange. The grill itself is fine — charcoal $59, propane $71.

3. Renovation and construction debris

Drywall, lumber, tile, roofing, flooring, cabinetry, concrete, brick and dirt.

Bulk programs are designed for household items, not for the output of a project. Most exclude construction debris outright, on the reasoning that if you hired a contractor, disposal was part of the job.

This comes up constantly around here, because the intown renovation cycle does not stop. Bungalows in Kirkwood, Grant Park, Ormewood Park and Adair Park are being gutted; ranches in Brookhaven and Chamblee are being added onto; basements everywhere are being finished. Every one of those produces a driveway pile that the county truck will drive past.

Masonry is priced separately from general debris because it is weight, not volume — a quarter truck of concrete weighs what a full truck of furniture does.

4. Tires and automotive parts

Tires are excluded almost universally, and so are engine parts, bumpers, fuel tanks and anything holding automotive fluid.

Tires have their own disposal chain and a per-tire fee at most facilities. The usual answer is that the shop fitting your new tires takes the old ones, which is why they ask.

The ones that get stranded are the set in the basement garage from a car sold years ago. Those are not going out with the bulk trash in any jurisdiction in this metro. Tell us at booking if there are tires in the load so they get routed correctly.

5. Electronics and screens

Televisions, monitors, computers, printers and small electronics are frequently excluded from ordinary bulk collection even where furniture is accepted.

Several metro counties run periodic electronics recycling events and some have standing drop-off arrangements. Check your county's current schedule — if one is coming up and the item is already accessible, that is genuinely free and worth using.

The recurring Atlanta case is the rear-projection set in the basement den or the bonus room — excluded from bulk collection, too heavy to take to an event without a truck and a helper, and therefore still there.

The sixth thing: anything not already at the curb

This is not an exclusion in the rules. It is an exclusion in practice, and in this metro it matters more than any of the five above.

Every bulk program in the region is a curbside program. It assumes the item is at the street. But Atlanta households store below and above the living space — daylight basements, under-house garages, carports, bonus rooms over the garage — because the Piedmont terrain and the housing stock put those spaces there.

So the item is at the bottom of a basement stair, or up a narrow secondary stair over a three-car garage, and the free option requires you to solve the hard part first. That is the real reason people pay.

Flat-price removal starts wherever the item actually is. There is no stair charge, no long-carry charge for a truck that had to street-park because your driveway is too steep to back down, and no disposal fee added afterwards.

What to do with the exclusions

• Hazardous waste: hold it for a county collection event. Do not put it on any truck.
• Tires: hand them to the shop fitting the replacements, or tell us so they are routed properly.
• Electronics: check for a county event first; otherwise price them on the list.
• Refrigerant appliances: take retailer haul-away if you are buying a replacement, otherwise book the removal.
• Renovation debris: make it part of the contractor's scope, or price it by bags or truck fraction.

Frequently asked questions