Bulk Pickup in Toledo: What the City Takes and What It Leaves Behind

How Toledo bulk pickup works in 2026

The City of Toledo changed its bulk program at the start of 2026. Starting January 5, residents can place up to 5 bulk items at the curb every week, on the same day as their regular trash collection. Republic Services picks it up along with the gray cart. The old system, where you called to book one bulk pickup a month, is gone. The last day to schedule under that system was December 30, 2025.

Bulk items ride on your normal trash day, so the timing follows the gray cart. The city says the cart can go out the night before your scheduled pickup and should be brought back in once collection is done. If you are not sure which day your street is on, the city's trash and recycling page has a tool to find your collection day, and a handful of holidays each year push collection back one day.

The city lists these rules for every bulk set-out:

• No need to schedule. Put items out with your weekly trash.
• Up to 5 items per week.
• Each item or bundle must be under 40 pounds.
• Bag loose trash.
• Tie branches, wood or rugs into a bundle no bigger than 3 feet by 4 feet.
• Remove or pound flat any nails or screws in wood items.
• Bag or wrap mattresses.
• Front curb only. There is no alley or side street pickup.

What the city will not pick up

Republic leaves these items at the curb, and the city says residents may be fined for them:

• Loose debris that is not bagged or bundled
• Tires
• Hazardous waste, gas, paint, liquids and medical waste
• Major car parts
• Commercial construction material
• Boards with nails or screws still in them
• Any item or bundle over 40 pounds

The 40 pound limit rules out most big furniture and appliances

The weight limit is the rule that catches most people. A full-size refrigerator, a washer or dryer, a sleeper sofa, a recliner with a metal frame, a solid wood dresser, a treadmill and most chest freezers all weigh well over 40 pounds. So does a box of plaster and lath pulled out of a wall in an older West Toledo or Old West End house. Those are exactly the items people tend to want gone.

Some things can be made to fit. A bed frame can come apart into pieces that each weigh less. Scrap wood can be cut down, de-nailed and tied into 3 by 4 foot bundles. Small appliances like microwaves, toasters and window fans are usually light enough on their own. A couch or a refrigerator cannot be split up, and if it goes out anyway, it stays at the curb.

A smaller pile can be spread across a few trash days. Five bundles of fence boards this week and five next week will clear a modest project without any fees. Keep the extra in the garage until its week comes, since anything over the limit that sits at the curb just gets left there.

If you have a heavy piece sitting in a basement, an upstairs bedroom or a detached garage, our appliance and furniture removal crew carries it out for you. We take one piece or twenty, with no minimum, and working appliances get donated while the rest goes to recycling.

Too much at the curb can mean a $1,000 fine

The city treats a pile that goes past the weekly limit as a large set-out. Its own page names the usual causes: property cleanouts, moving or evictions, and home repairs or remodeling. When a large amount of garbage, debris or furniture is left in a yard, right of way or street, the city inspects it under Toledo Municipal Code 963.

Here is the process the city lays out:

• The property owner gets a Notice of Liability and a $1,000 fine.
• You have about 2 weeks to clean up before a second inspection.
• Responding to the fine by email or phone and showing an effort to fix the problem can cut the fine by 50 percent.
• You can appeal at the Division of Code Compliance, One Government Center, 18th floor, with a $50 cash bond or money order. Filing an appeal does not pause the deadline to remove the pile.
• If the pile is still there at the second inspection, the city issues a second $1,000 fine, sends the Division of Urban Beautification to clean it up, and bills the cost to the property.

Other city options for heavy or large loads

If you have a truck or trailer and can load it yourself, the city offers two drop-off options.

Hoffman Road Landfill holds free disposal days for City of Toledo residents. The city lists 3 free drop-off days in 2026, and you need a current utility bill and a valid photo ID to prove residency. Accepted bulky items include excess trash, furniture, carpeting, mattresses, wood waste and scrap metal. Outside of the free days, residents can bring excess trash, furniture, remodeling debris and tires for a small fee. The landfill does not take yard waste, chemicals, paint or flammable materials, and there is no free commercial disposal.

The Clean Toledo Recycling Center is a self-service site open Tuesday through Saturday, where you unload your own recyclables. It does not take hazardous waste.

Check the City of Toledo trash and recycling page for the current free day dates before you load up, and call Republic Services at 419-936-2511 with questions about your bulk pickup.

When a private haul makes more sense

Weekly bulk works well for a broken chair, a bagged mattress or a few bundles of trim boards. It stops working when the job is bigger than 5 light items, and the city itself says that when the amount is too large, you need a dumpster or a private hauling service. These are the jobs where we usually get the call:

• Clearing out a parent's house after a move or a death. Our estate cleanouts cover the whole home, and we set aside anything the family wants to keep before we haul.
• A kitchen, bathroom or basement tear-out. Drywall, lumber, tile and cabinetry count as construction debris, which falls outside what bulk pickup is set up for. See our construction debris removal page.
• A move-out with a full garage or basement and a closing or lease date coming up.
• Heavy items in hard-to-reach spots, like a dryer in the basement or a dresser on the second floor.
• Any pile that would take weeks of 5-item set-outs and risks a large set-out fine in the meantime.

How Powerhouse curbside pickup is different

With our curbside pickup, you set items at the curb, in the driveway or in the garage, book a time, and we load it. You do not need to be home. There is no 5 item cap and no 40 pound limit, and we run pickups 7 days a week, weekends included, rain or shine. If you would rather not move anything yourself, a two-person crew comes inside, carries it out and loads the truck.

Same-day and next-day service is available for most addresses in Toledo and Northwest Ohio, and the estimate is free and given on the spot before any work starts. Usable items go to local charities like Habitat for Humanity and Goodwill, and metals, electronics and appliances go to recycling. We keep 60 to 70 percent of what we collect out of the landfill.

We cannot take paint, chemicals, asbestos or medical waste either, so those still need a hazardous waste drop-off. For everything else, see our Toledo junk removal page for the neighborhoods we cover.