The short answer
| Item | Flat price |
|---|---|
| TV (under 42") | $62 |
| TV (42" to 65") | $68 |
| TV (65"+) | $73 |
| Computer monitor | $58 |
| Entertainment center / TV stand | $96 |
| Box of electronics | $77 |
Priced by screen size, not by weight or technology. A 55-inch flat panel and a 55-inch rear-projection monster that needs two people and a plan are both $68.
The visit minimum is $75, so one TV on its own bills at $75. Most people pair it with the stand: TV (42" to 65") $68 + entertainment center $96 = $164.
Why a TV is not ordinary bulk waste
Screens contain materials that should not go into general waste, and the recovery chain for them is specialized. Across metro Atlanta that shows up as electronics being excluded from ordinary bulk collection even where furniture is accepted.
The metro is a patchwork — the City of Atlanta, unincorporated DeKalb and Fulton, Cobb, Gwinnett, Clayton, and each individual city run their own arrangements. Several counties run periodic electronics recycling events, sometimes a few weekends a year, and some have standing drop-off arrangements. Check your county's current schedule. If an event is coming up and the set is already accessible, take it — that route is genuinely free.
What does not work is putting a TV on the verge and waiting. It sits, it gets rained on, and a waterlogged screen is worse for everyone downstream.
The Atlanta basement TV
There is a specific artefact in this metro, and if you own a house built before about 2005 you probably have one.
It is a rear-projection or tube television, it weighs between 150 and 250 pounds, and it is in the finished basement, the lower-level den or the bonus room over the garage. It went in when the room was built. It has not moved since. Nobody has turned it on in a decade.
They are concentrated in exactly the housing stock this city is made of: daylight-basement ranches in Sandy Springs, Dunwoody and East Cobb; split-foyers through Chamblee, Doraville and Tucker where the den is half a level down; bonus rooms over three-car garages in Alpharetta, Suwanee and Woodstock.
Two things make them stay put. They are genuinely too heavy for two casual adults on a stair with a turn in it, and there is no obvious place to take them. Hence fifteen years of nothing happening.
The price is the same as any other set that size, the stair is included, and it is a ninety-second job for a crew with the right straps.
Wall-mounted sets
Increasingly the common case, and worth planning.
If the TV is on a wall bracket, say so at booking. The set comes off the mount, and the bracket can come off the wall too if you want it gone — it is a few lag bolts and some drywall repair you will be doing anyway before you list or hand back keys.
Above a fireplace is the Atlanta-specific version of this. A great many houses here put the television over the mantel in a two-story great room, which means the set is high, the mount is into masonry or a stud pack, and a step ladder is involved. Mention it and the crew brings one.
Wipe it before it leaves
A smart TV holds your Wi-Fi password and signed-in streaming accounts. Anyone who plugs it in afterwards inherits both unless you clear it.
Go into settings and run a factory reset. On most sets it is under a support, system or general menu and takes a couple of minutes. Do it the day before, not while a crew is standing in your driveway.
Same applies to anything going in the box of electronics with it — sign out of streaming boxes and games consoles before they go.
Trade-in, sale and donation — realistically
Retailer trade-in and recycling. Some electronics retailers run take-back or trade-in programs, with limits on size and number, and terms that change. Worth a check if you are buying a replacement and the old set is portable.
Selling. Flat panels under a few years old with no dead pixels sell. Anything older, and anything rear-projection or tube, does not — there is no market, and the metro is spread out enough that nobody is crossing the Perimeter for a free TV either.
Donation. Most organizations have stopped taking older televisions entirely because they cannot move them on. Check the accepted-items list before you load one into a car; turning up with a TV that gets refused is a wasted Saturday.
Common combinations
- The basement upgrade: TV (42" to 65") $68 + entertainment center $96 = $164
- Two bedroom sets that nobody watches: TV (under 42") $62 + TV (under 42") $62 = $124
- The home office reset: TV (65"+) $73 + computer monitor $58 = $131
- Everything electronic in the house: TV (42" to 65") $68 + box of electronics $77 + computer monitor $58 = $203
If a whole basement or bonus room is clearing at the same time, compare against the truck ladder: quarter $241, three-eighths $338, half $431.
Access and booking
Tell us the size, the floor, and whether it is wall-mounted. That determines crew size, not price.
If you are in a Midtown or Buckhead high-rise, a 65-inch set going through the lobby needs the freight elevator, which needs a reservation and a certificate of insurance filed with management — arranged at booking. In a BeltLine five-over-one it is the service elevator and a longer carry from a street-parked truck. In a garden apartment off Buford Highway it is an exterior stair. None of those costs extra.
Pick a fixed arrival window, which is worth having when the alternative is losing an afternoon to a crew stuck somewhere on I-285.
Frequently asked questions
How much does TV disposal cost in Atlanta?
$62 under 42 inches, $68 from 42 to 65 inches, and $73 above 65 inches, including the carry and responsible disposal. The visit minimum is $75.
Will you take a huge old rear-projection TV out of my basement?
Yes, and it is priced by screen size like any other set. There is no weight charge and no stair charge — which is exactly why so many of them are still sitting in Atlanta basements.
Can I put a TV out with the bulk trash?
Usually not. Electronics are frequently excluded from ordinary bulk collection across the metro even where furniture is accepted. Check your jurisdiction's current page, and look at whether your county has an electronics recycling event coming up.
Do I need to factory reset it?
Yes, if it is a smart TV. It stores your Wi-Fi credentials and signed-in streaming accounts. Run the reset from the settings menu the day before.
Can you take it off the wall mount?
Yes. Tell us at booking, especially if it is mounted over a fireplace in a two-story great room, so the crew brings a ladder. The bracket can come off too if you want it gone.