Boston Bulk Item Pickup Guide: 311 Rules, Allston Christmas & What the City Won’t Take

Every August 31st, the sidewalks in Allston start filling up. By morning of September 1st, they’re lined with sofas, dressers, mattresses, and things that have clearly seen better days. Boston calls it Allston Christmas, the day when most of the city’s apartment leases expire at once.

Boston’s bulk item pickup works two ways. Some items go at the curb on your regular trash day with no scheduling required. Others need a BOS:311 appointment before anything goes out, and skipping that step means the item gets left at the curb. Thousands of Boston residents learn this the hard way on September 1.

Whether you’re a longtime Boston resident doing a cleanout, a student navigating move-out season, or a landlord turning over a unit before a new lease starts, this guide covers what goes where, what needs an appointment, and what to do when the city program can’t keep up.

Boston runs two separate tracks for large items. Which track applies depends entirely on what the item is.

How to schedule a BOS:311 appointment

• Online: 311.boston.gov. Select “Schedule a special collection item” or “Mattress Recycling”
• App: BOS:311 (free, iOS and Android)
• Phone: 311, or 617-635-4500 from outside the city

For special items, place everything at the curb after 5 PM the evening before your confirmed collection date. Do not set out a scheduled item without a confirmed appointment. It will not be collected.

The annual limit for special item collection is 10 items per calendar year, with a maximum of 5 items per appointment. If you need to cancel, do it before 12 PM the day prior by clicking the link in your confirmation email. Missed pickups must be reported to 311 within 24 hours.

Sofas, loveseats, chairs, dressers, tables, bed frames, and most standard household furniture go at the curb on your regular trash collection day. No scheduling, no phone call, no prep requirements. Place items by 6 AM on your collection day.

Find your trash collection day at boston.gov/departments/public-works/trash, the free Trash Day app, or by calling 311.

Futons and mattress toppers are not covered by the mattress recycling program. They can go out with regular curbside furniture, no appointment needed.

In Massachusetts, mattresses cannot go in the regular trash. The Massachusetts Department of Environmental Protection made mattress recycling a state requirement effective November 1, 2022. Boston’s program exists because of state law, not just city preference.

Schedule curbside mattress recycling through BOS:311 at 311.boston.gov or by calling 311. The service is free for eligible buildings with 6 units or fewer. After scheduling, set the mattress out after 5 PM the evening before your confirmed date.

What the program accepts

The city accepts memory foam, innerspring, hybrid, latex, and box springs. Box spring and mattress together count as one item toward your annual limit.

The program does not accept futons, mattress toppers, or other non-mattress items. Those go with regular curbside furniture.

Buildings with 7 or more units

If your building has 7 or more units, the city mattress recycling program does not apply to you. You’ll need to contact a private mattress recycling hauler. Your building management may already have an arrangement in place. Ask before arranging your own.

For mattresses that need to come out of an upper floor or a tight storage space, LoadUp handles mattress removal in Boston from wherever the item actually is in your home.

Any appliance that contains refrigerant requires a BOS:311 appointment. This includes refrigerators, freezers, air conditioners, dehumidifiers, water coolers, humidifiers, and ice makers.

Refrigerator prep

Boston is specific on this: the city will not collect a refrigerator or freezer with its doors still attached or with food inside. Before your appointment, remove all doors and lids, and empty the unit completely. Place the doors alongside the appliance at the curb.

For appliances that need to come out of a tight space or upper-floor unit, LoadUp handles appliance removal in Boston without the BOS:311 scheduling window.

Window ACs in September

September is peak AC removal season in Boston. Students and renters taking out window units at the end of a lease need to schedule through BOS:311, not curbside without an appointment. The appointment slots fill up fast around September 1. Schedule at least two weeks before your move-out if possible.

Per state law, you can’t put a TV in the trash in Massachusetts. That goes for flat-screens, not just the old boxy CRT kind. Flat-screen TVs contain mercury, which puts them under the state’s Mercury Management Act and out of the regular waste stream. CRT TVs have been banned from Massachusetts landfills even longer, since 2000. Computers, monitors, laptops, and printers fall under the same category.

Televisions

All televisions (flat-screen and CRT) require a BOS:311 appointment for curbside collection. The city routes collected TVs to proper recycling. TVs count against the 10-item annual limit.

Computers, phones, and other electronics

For computers, monitors, laptops, printers, phones, and tablets, the right option is a Boston Zero Waste Day event. These run throughout the year at community locations across the city, accept electronics, batteries, paint, household chemicals, tires, and textiles, and are free for Boston residents with a photo ID, utility bill, or lease as proof of residency. Check the full schedule at boston.gov/zero-waste-day.

For electronics that need to be removed from inside a home or apartment before a Zero Waste Day is convenient, LoadUp can help with electronics removal in Boston from wherever the items are.

The scale of move-outs on September 1st in Boston is hard to overstate. With 36 colleges and more than 150,000 university students living in the area, the city sees a level of simultaneous turnover that doesn’t happen anywhere else. The heaviest concentration is in Allston and Brighton, but Fenway, Mission Hill, parts of Dorchester, and much of Cambridge and Somerville see it too.

The city expects to collect more than 5,000 mattresses during the first week of September alone, roughly 15 percent of its entire annual mattress volume in a single week. A MONUM and Harvard Kennedy School study found that August and September together produce a nearly 30% spike in Boston trash collection compared to the rest of the year.

Two separate move-out seasons

September 1 is the apartment lease turnover. But the academic calendar creates a second, earlier wave. Spring semester dorm move-outs run from late April through late May depending on the school:

• Northeastern: by April 25
• Boston University: by May 9 (graduating seniors by May 18)
• Harvard: undergrads by May 17 (graduating seniors by May 29)

Both waves follow the same BOS:311 rules. If you’re moving out of a dorm near Fenway, Mission Hill, or Cambridge, mattresses and appliances still need scheduled appointments before they go at the curb.

The Household Goods furniture pilot

Boston’s Mayor’s Office of New Urban Mechanics (MONUM) has run a coordinated furniture pickup pilot in partnership with Household Goods, a furniture bank nonprofit. The program drives through designated move-out neighborhoods before September 1, collects usable furniture from curbside, and distributes it to people in need through social service referrals.

The 2025 pilot covered designated zones in Brighton. Residents submitted a pickup request by August 22; furniture was collected on August 25 between 8 AM and 3 PM. Accepted items: couches, dressers, kitchen tables, bookcases under 6.5 feet. Good condition required. No damaged or stained pieces.

For 2026 and beyond, check MONUM and Household Goods announcements in July and August for the designated zones, accepted items, and submission deadlines. The program has expanded each year since its launch.

What the city still requires on September 1st

Boston doesn’t halt its scheduling requirements during Allston Christmas. Mattresses still need a BOS:311 appointment. AC units still need an appointment. The extra DPW crews deployed for the week handle the increased volume of regular curbside furniture, but they don’t pick up unscheduled mattresses and appliances sitting in the pile. Plan ahead.

A practical timeline for students and renters

• 3 to 4 weeks before move-out: Schedule any BOS:311 appointments for mattresses, ACs, refrigerators, and TVs. Slots fill fast near September 1.
• 2 weeks before: Submit a Household Goods pickup request if you’re in a designated zone and have usable furniture. Contact Goodwill or Salvation Army for donation pickups of other usable items.
• Days before: Stage furniture at the curb for regular curbside collection. Keep mattresses and appliances separate and confirmed through BOS:311 appointments.
• Moving day: Expect heavy traffic, limited parking, and long elevator waits. Stage items before 6 AM and give yourself extra time.

For landlords turning over a unit

If an outgoing tenant left behind a mattress, refrigerator, or AC unit, the 10-item-per-year limit on BOS:311 appointments can become a problem quickly, especially for landlords with multiple units. For full apartment cleanouts in Boston, a private hauler is usually the more practical option given the timeline and volume involved.

If your address is in Cambridge, Somerville, or Brookline, BOS:311 doesn’t cover you. Each city runs its own program with its own rules. Here’s what to know for each.

Cambridge

Cambridge collects bulk items on your last garbage day of each week. Call Cambridge DPW before putting anything at the curb. They prefer advance notice, and rules can vary by item type. Construction and demolition debris is not accepted. For items that need a private hauler, LoadUp offers junk removal in Cambridge with the same availability as Boston.

Somerville

Somerville has its own rules for large items including mattresses, appliances, TVs, and furniture, with no overlap with anything Boston does. Call Somerville DPW to confirm current scheduling requirements before anything goes at the curb.

Brookline

Brookline is the strictest of the three. All bulk items (furniture, mattresses, appliances, and electronics) require an advance appointment AND prepayment through the Town’s online portal, at least one week before your regular trash day. Metals, mattresses, electronics, and white goods are collected on Tuesdays only. Items placed on the public way without a permit result in an instant fine. Construction debris is never collected. Visit the Brookline bulky items page before putting anything at the curb. LoadUp offers junk removal in Brookline with same-day and next-day availability. No permits, no prepayment, no one-week wait.

Ten appointments a year sounds like plenty until you’re the one clearing out an apartment the week before September 1. That’s when BOS:311 runs out of runway: slots are taken, the 5-per-appointment cap is too low, and there’s still a refrigerator in the living room that needs to go somewhere. Boston’s pickup program might not work for you if:

• You’ve used all 10 of your annual BOS:311 appointments and still have scheduled items to go
• You need something gone this week and can’t wait for a BOS:311 slot
• You’re a landlord clearing a full unit and have more than 5 items needing appointments
• Your building has more than 6 units and isn’t eligible for mattress recycling or special item pickup
• You have construction or demolition debris: not accepted through any city residential program
• You need items carried out from inside the unit. The city will not enter the premises

If BOS:311 is moving too slowly, your annual limit is already used up, or you need someone to carry a refrigerator down three flights of stairs before a lease ends, LoadUp provides junk removal across Boston with same-day and next-day availability. No scheduling backlog, no annual limit, no permit requirements. Get a price online before anyone shows up.

For furniture and household items still in usable 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.