5 things Las Vegas bulk pickup won't take

First, check your own address

Las Vegas, North Las Vegas, Henderson and unincorporated Clark County each set their own bulk collection rules, and neighboring streets can sit in different jurisdictions without announcing it. Look your address up on your city's or the county's bulk-pickup page for your cycle, your item cap and the current exclusion list.

That said, the categories below get refused with striking consistency across the metro, and knowing them in advance saves you the specific misery of a pile that sits on your curb after the truck has gone.

1. Electronics

Televisions, monitors, computers and most consumer electronics are generally excluded from ordinary bulk collection, because of leaded glass in CRTs, mercury in older backlighting and heavy metals on circuit boards.

This is the most common refusal there is, because a television is exactly the sort of thing that looks like bulk waste. It is not, and once it has been passed over it becomes a TV on your curb that you cannot legally leave and that your association's next compliance pass will find.

What it costs instead: TV under 42 inches $62, 42 to 65 inches $68, above 65 inches $73, computer monitor $58, box of electronics $77.

2. Anything with refrigerant in it

Refrigerators, freezers, window and portable air conditioners, outdoor condensers and dehumidifiers all contain refrigerant that has to be recovered by someone qualified before the metal is processed. Many bulk programs handle these separately from ordinary large items, or not at all.

This category matters more here than almost anywhere. Nearly every valley home with a three-car garage has a second refrigerator in it, and those die constantly because a compressor cannot reject heat into a garage sitting at 120 degrees. Add the window and portable AC units bought as stopgaps when central cooling failed in July, and the average valley garage has two or three refrigerant appliances in it.

What it costs instead: standard refrigerator $164, side-by-side or French door $183, mini fridge $115, chest freezer $146, upright freezer $149, large window AC $109, small window AC $87, portable AC $85, outdoor condenser $115.

3. Construction and renovation debris

Bulk collection is for household items, not for the output of a project. Drywall, tile, lumber, stucco, cabinetry, countertop offcuts, roofing material and broken concrete are routinely excluded, and weight limits usually apply even where a category is technically accepted.

In a valley where a huge share of the housing stock is now old enough for its first serious renovation, and where kitchen and bath remodels run constantly through the master plans, this is the category that catches homeowners doing the work themselves.

What it costs instead: construction debris $120, concrete or masonry debris $219 per quarter truck, rolled carpet $68, carpet removal per room $71, laminate countertop section $56, stone or granite countertop section $111. Bagged debris runs $132 for ten bags, $196 for fifteen and $259 for twenty.

4. Household hazardous waste

Nobody's curbside collection takes this, and we cannot take it either. It needs a dedicated household hazardous waste drop-off:

• Paint, stain, solvents and thinners
• Pesticides and weedkiller
• Motor oil, antifreeze and old fuel
• Car batteries
• Propane cylinders
• Pool and spa chemistry: chlorine, shock, acid, algaecide

That last line is the valley's signature. So many back yards here have or had a spa or an above-ground pool that leftover pool chemistry is the single most common thing we have to leave behind on a garage cleanout. Pull it out before the crew arrives and the rest of the load moves without interruption.

5. Anything over the item cap

This is the quiet one. Most bulk programs limit how much you can put out per collection, and the limit is lower than people assume. A bedroom set is a mattress, a box spring, a frame, a dresser and a nightstand: five items, which is over the cap in a lot of programs.

What happens is not that everything is refused. It is that some of it is taken and the rest is left, and now you have a partial pile on your curb outside the permitted window. In Summerlin, Green Valley, Anthem, Seven Hills, Inspirada or Cadence, that is a compliance notice.

What it costs instead: a mattress and box spring set $143 + a metal frame $68 + a standard dresser $126 + a nightstand $57 = $394, taken in one visit with no cap and no window.

The two-refusal trap

The reason this list matters is the sequence it creates. You put out a pile containing a TV, a garage fridge and four other items. The crew takes three household items, leaves the TV and the fridge as excluded categories, and you are over the cap anyway.

Now you have a dead refrigerator and a television on your curb, outside your association's set-out window, with your next collection cycle weeks away. The thing you were trying to do for free has become a notice and a problem.

Working out which of your items are on the refusal list before collection day is five minutes of reading that avoids all of it.

What we do take

Everything on this page except the household hazardous waste, plus the ordinary furniture and household goods that bulk collection also takes. No item cap, no set-out window, and the carry from wherever it is rather than from the curb.

Priced per item from the list above, or by volume: $241 a quarter truck, $338 three eighths, $431 a half, $513 five eighths, $587 three quarters, $661 seven eighths, $732 a full load. Minimum visit $75, disposal included, no stair charge.

Frequently asked questions