5 things Pittsburgh bulk pickup won't take

The short answer

The City of Pittsburgh's bulk program refuses five groups of items outright: TVs and computers, freon appliances, construction waste, tires and auto parts, and hazardous items such as chemicals, batteries and light bulbs. Even within the accepted list, there is a cap of two items per week. For the refused items, JunkRabbit charges flat prices such as $164 for a standard fridge, $68 for a 42 to 65 inch TV and $87 for a set of four tires.

1. TVs, computers and peripherals

Pennsylvania's Covered Device Recycling Act of 2010 banned televisions, computers and other electronic devices from being placed at the curb, and the City's bulk page lists "televisions, computers, peripherals" as refused. A landfill ban followed in 2013. So a TV set beside your trash cans will be left behind, whatever night you put it out. The City points residents to its e-waste partner, Noble Environmental, which runs drop-offs, events and curbside pickups with fees by material and weight, and to Evolution E-cycling, which the City lists at $1 per pound for TVs and CRT monitors. Old tube TVs are heavy, so those fees add up. Suburbs follow the same state law; Mt. Lebanon's hauler refuses electronics too. A JunkRabbit pickup is $62 for a TV under 42 inches, $68 for 42 to 65 inches and $73 for 65 inches or more, carried out from any room.

2. Anything with freon

Refrigerators, freezers, window and portable air conditioners, dehumidifiers and similar appliances all hold refrigerant, which federal rules require to be recovered before disposal. The City lists freon appliances as refused. Mt. Lebanon's hauler accepts them only with a sticker certifying that the refrigerant has been removed. This catches a lot of Pittsburgh households, because so many have an old second fridge or chest freezer in the basement and a stack of retired window units from rowhouse bedrooms. Washers, dryers, stoves and water heaters are fine at the City curb, within the two-item limit, because they do not hold refrigerant. For the freon units, a standard fridge is $164, a chest freezer $146, a large window AC $109 and a dehumidifier $77 with JunkRabbit. The flat price is the whole price, carried up from the basement with no stairs fee.

3. Construction waste

The City does not collect construction waste at the curb, and Mt. Lebanon's hauler takes no construction debris either. That rules out drywall, plaster and lath, old cabinets ripped out during a remodel, flooring, roofing, tile, concrete and lumber from a renovation. In a city where the median home was built in 1942, there is a lot of renovation going on, from rowhouse rehabs in Lawrenceville and the North Side to kitchen updates in Mt. Lebanon and Brookline. Remodel debris needs its own route: a dumpster, a contractor's haul-off, or a pickup. JunkRabbit prices debris by the item or by how much of the truck it fills: drywall is $37 per sheet or small bundle, a full kitchen cabinet set rip-out is $293, 10 bags of debris are $132, and a quarter truck of mixed debris is $241. Concrete and masonry are $219 per quarter truck because of the weight.

4. Tires and auto parts

Tires and auto parts are on the City's refused list. Tires are bulky, hold water and do not compact, and most disposal systems handle them separately. Auto parts can carry oil and other fluids. That leaves the four old tires stacked in a garage in Bethel Park, the spare from a car sold years ago, or a set of snow tires that finally wore out after too many Pittsburgh winters. Tire shops will often take old tires when you buy new ones, sometimes for a fee, and that is worth asking about first. The Allegheny County Health Department's recycling directory lists tire outlets as well. If you have tires mixed in with a garage cleanout, a pickup is simpler. JunkRabbit charges $22 for a single tire and $87 for a set of four. Auto parts beyond tires are handled case by case, so describe them in your photo request.

5. Hazardous chemicals, batteries and bulbs

The City refuses hazardous chemicals, batteries and light bulbs at the curb. That covers pesticides, pool chemicals, solvents, motor oil, car batteries, rechargeable batteries and fluorescent tubes. The Pennsylvania Resources Council runs household hazardous waste collection events and has done so for more than twenty years, and the City points residents to them for paint, pesticides and chemicals. Check its schedule for the next event near you. Paint is one exception worth knowing about for a pickup: JunkRabbit accepts paint, at $30 for a 1-gallon can and $52 for a 5-gallon bucket. Other hazardous waste is not part of a standard pickup and is handled case by case, so ask before booking. Never pour chemicals down a drain or into the trash, and never mix them to save space.

And the sixth: the third item

Even accepted items hit the two-per-week cap, and the City's paid collection for more than two costs $173 for the first hour and $54 for each additional hour. A pickup of everything on this list the curb refused, a fridge, a TV and four tires, is $164 + $68 + $87 = $319. Add the third sofa the curb could not fit in this week and it is $319 + $126 = $445.

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