Dallas Brush and Bulk Pickup: What the City Will & Won’t Take

Dallas Sanitation Services picks up old couches and mattresses for free. Once a month, no appointment, up to 10 cubic yards per address, but, it will not pick up the refrigerator sitting next to it.

That gap is what most Dallas residents don’t know about. The city’s Brush and Bulky Item Collection program (some call it heavy trash pickup) gives eligible addresses monthly, free curbside pickup covering furniture, mattresses, carpet, stoves, washers, and dryers. Unfortunately, refrigerators, ACs, and any appliance with coolant or gasoline are excluded from the program. The same goes for electronics, construction debris, and glass. On top of it, many Dallas neighborhoods with HOAs also have their own staging rules that contradict directly with the city’s setout window.

Here’s what the program covers, what always gets left at the curb, and what to do when the city can’t help.

Dallas Sanitation Services provides free monthly brush and bulky item curbside collection for single-family homes and duplexes within City of Dallas limits. Each address is assigned a collection week: the 1st, 2nd, 3rd, or 4th Monday week of the month. No appointment or phone call is required for standard loads. Just set items out during the setout window and the crew picks them up on their route.

Finding your collection week

Your collection week is tied to your address, not your neighborhood name. Two neighbors on the same block can have different weeks. Three ways to find yours:

• Dallas Sanitation Services app (free, iOS and Android): the most reliable option; shows your personalized schedule and sends alerts
• Address lookup at dallas.gov/sanitation
• Call 311 from inside Dallas, or (214) 670-5111 from outside

Setout rules

Items can be placed at the curb starting Thursday before your collection week. They must be in place by 7 AM Monday morning of your collection week. Place items just behind the curb line in front of your home, not in an alleyway, not on the side of the house, and not on a neighbor’s property. Items must stay at least 5 feet from roll carts, mailboxes, fire hydrants, utility poles, parked cars, and water meters. Crews use a grapple arm on their trucks; anything too close to an obstruction gets left.

The 10 cubic yard limit and the annual exception

Standard monthly limit: 10 cubic yards. That’s roughly the size of a standard pickup truck bed heaped full. For most single-item pickups, you’ll be well under it.

Once per calendar year, you can request a 20 cubic yard oversize pickup instead. Submit the request through the Dallas 311 app, online at dallas.gov/sanitation, or by calling 311. The request must be submitted before your collection week begins. The cutoff is Sunday at 11:59 PM the night before your Monday collection week. Once submitted, the request cannot be cancelled.

Go over the 10-yard limit without pre-approval and the city will collect everything anyway, then bill your Dallas utility account at $60 per 5 cubic yards over the limit. The same billing applies to prohibited items placed in the pile or items set out too early.

Brush and bulk go in separate piles

Vegetative waste (tree limbs, yard trimmings) and bulk items (furniture, appliances) must be placed in separate piles at least 3 feet apart. One mixed pile may not be collected in full. Brush on one side, furniture on the other.

Most common household bulk items qualify. Here is a quick reference for the full list.

Dallas’s appliance exclusion is broader than most cities, and it catches people off guard. The program excludes any appliance containing coolant, gasoline, or other chemicals. That means refrigerators and freezers, yes, but also window air conditioners, dehumidifiers, and lawnmowers. If it has a compressor or a fuel tank, it does not go in the pile.

Stoves, washers, dryers, and water heaters are accepted. They don’t contain refrigerant or fuel, so they qualify as standard bulk items.

For excluded appliances, there are two options through the city:

• Self-haul to McCommas Bluff Landfill (5100 Youngblood Road, Dallas, TX 75241): Free for Dallas residents in passenger cars, pickups, or trailers under 15 feet with a valid Texas driver’s license and proof of Dallas residency. Hours: Monday–Friday 5 AM–8 PM, Saturday 6 AM–4 PM. Phone: (214) 670-0977. Uncovered loads carry a $40 fee.
• Special Collection via 311: Pay a fee (approximately $80 depending on the item) to have Dallas Sanitation dispatch a crew for professional refrigerant removal and hauling. Call 311 or submit through the Dallas app.

Need an appliance removed from inside the home without managing the logistics yourself? LoadUp handles appliance removal in Dallas, with no separate 311 call required.

TVs, computers, monitors, stereos, and microwaves are not part of the curbside brush and bulk program. Unlike some other states, Texas does not have a statewide consumer ban on putting electronics in regular trash. But Dallas Sanitation Services excludes them from the curbside program, and recycling is the right call regardless. A TV going to McCommas Bluff can be recycled. One going to a standard landfill generally can’t.

Where to take electronics in Dallas

• McCommas Bluff Landfill (5100 Youngblood Road): Accepts electronics free for Dallas residents. Same hours and requirements as appliance self-haul above. The easiest year-round option for larger items like TVs.
• Dallas County Home Chemical Collection Center (HCCC) at 11234 Plano Road: Accepts small electronics: laptops and cell phones only. Does not accept TVs. Hours: Tuesday 9 AM–7:30 PM, Wednesday and Thursday 8:30 AM–5 PM, 2nd and 4th Saturdays 9 AM–3 PM. Phone: (214) 553-1765. Free for Dallas residents and those in many surrounding cities with a driver’s license and utility bill.
• Best Buy take-back: Accepts most consumer electronics at no charge. TVs may carry a drop-off fee at some locations. No purchase required.
• Texas manufacturer take-back programs: Texas law requires computer and TV manufacturers to provide free take-back options under the Texas Recycles Computers and Texas Recycles TVs programs. Find participating drop-off locations for your brand at tceq.texas.gov.
• City drop-off events: Dallas Sanitation holds periodic electronics recycling events. Check the Dallas Sanitation Services app or dallas.gov/sanitation for upcoming dates.

Need electronics hauled from inside the home? LoadUp handles electronics removal in Dallas and takes items from wherever they actually are.

This is the exclusion most people run into during a project. Concrete, bricks, gravel, lumber, drywall, asphalt, roofing materials: none of these get picked up by DSS. Dallas Sanitation’s official code is direct on this: “Waste generated from projects requiring the use of a contractor should be disposed of by the contractor.” If you hired someone, the debris is their responsibility. If you did the work yourself, you have two options through the city.

Cost Plus service: Dallas Sanitation offers an on-demand, fee-based pickup for construction and remodeling materials called Cost Plus. It can also be used for brush and bulk items outside your normal monthly collection window. Submit a request through 311 or the Dallas app. Current fees are assessed per load; confirm the rate with 311 before scheduling.

Self-haul to McCommas Bluff Landfill: Free for Dallas residents in eligible vehicles with valid ID and Dallas residency proof. Confirm current construction debris terms with the site at (214) 670-0977 before hauling a large trailer, as fees and terms can vary by material type and load size. Uncovered loads carry a $40 fee regardless.

For large renovation cleanouts or contractor-generated debris, you need a private debris hauler in Dallas.

Dallas does not run a separate yard waste collection program. Vegetative waste is included in the monthly brush and bulky pickup, and doesn’t require a separate request. It goes out with everything else during your collection week.

What counts as vegetative waste: tree limbs and shrubbery (individual pieces no longer than 10 feet and no wider than 8 inches in diameter), and bagged grass clippings and leaves with bags properly tied.

The separation rule applies here too. Vegetative waste goes in its own pile at least 3 feet from your bulk items. A mixed pile where branches are tangled in with furniture may not get fully collected. Yard waste collected by Dallas Sanitation goes to the Dallas Compost Center at McCommas Bluff, not a landfill.

For large tree debris from a trimming job or storm damage, contact Dallas Sanitation through 311 for guidance on special collection requests. The standard brush program handles typical residential yard material, not a large multi-pile cleanup from a major removal job.

This is specific to Dallas in a way that doesn’t come up as often in other major cities. Dallas is one of the most HOA-governed cities in the country, and many neighborhood HOA rules directly conflict with the city’s Thursday-Sunday setout window.

The city allows items at the curb starting Thursday before your collection week. Many Dallas HOA communities require items to be staged no more than 24 to 48 hours before pickup, sometimes just the morning of. Some HOAs prohibit bulk items from sitting in the driveway or front of the property for multiple days at all.

The practical tension: you may technically be within city rules by putting things out on Thursday, but your HOA rules say you’re in violation until Saturday. Getting a courtesy notice or citation from the HOA for following the city’s setout window is a real thing that happens in neighborhoods across North Dallas, Frisco, Allen, and Plano-adjacent Dallas communities.

Check your HOA CC&Rs before setting anything out. If the staging window is too narrow or the logistics of moving items on short notice doesn’t work for your situation, same-day private pickup eliminates the problem. Items leave the same day, no multi-day staging required.

The Dallas metro is one of the most fragmented jurisdictions in the country. Many residents who search for “Dallas bulk pickup” actually live in Plano, Garland, Irving, or Mesquite: all separate cities with entirely different programs. None of them use Dallas Sanitation Services.

One resource most suburbs in this table share: the Dallas County Home Chemical Collection Center at 11234 Plano Road is free for residents of Dallas, Garland, Irving, Mesquite, and many other area cities. Bring a driver’s license and utility bill. Hours and accepted items are in the electronics section above.

The brush and bulk program works well when your items qualify, your timing is flexible, and your HOA isn’t fighting the setout window. Not every situation fits. Some common situations include:

• You have a refrigerator, AC unit, or other appliance and don’t want to manage the self-haul
• You have renovation or construction debris from any project
• You need items gone before your next collection week
• You’ve already hit your 10-yard monthly limit
• Your HOA’s staging window doesn’t align with the city’s Thursday-Sunday window
• You need items removed from inside the home, not just placed at the curb
• You live in Plano, Garland, Irving, Mesquite, or another city outside Dallas limits and need a single service that covers the whole job

LoadUp provides junk removal across Dallas and the surrounding metro for situations where the city program doesn’t fit. Upfront pricing before you book, same-day and next-day availability, and Loaders are independent contractors who handle the lifting from inside the home. No separate call for appliances. No multi-day staging window required.

For furniture and household items in good condition, LoadUp routes eligible pieces to donation partners including Goodwill, Salvation Army, Habitat for Humanity, and the Furniture Bank Association of North America before anything goes to disposal. Through the Plant with Purpose program, every LoadUp pickup contributes to reforestation efforts nationwide.

LoadUp runs 20-30% below what most junk removal companies charge for comparable work in Dallas.