Residential Bulk Pickup Services

The City of Laurel offers Residential Special Pickup, also called Bulk Item Pickup, to the residents of Laurel.  Residential Special Pickups are intended for unusually large accumulations of household items that cannot be picked up in the normal once-a-week refuse collection. Special Pickups are available to single- or two-family dwelling units.  Residents in Apartment Buildings will need to contact their apartment's management for bulky items.  Please refer to our Refuse Special Pickup Calendar for information on pickup days.

When Are Special Pickups?

Residential Special Pickups are made on most Wednesdays throughout the year.  There are no pickups in weeks with a holiday and during the winter months pickups are reduced to roughly every-other-week depending on how the holidays fall.  Please check the City calendar or call the office to verify pickup dates. 

How Do I Request a Special Pickup? 

Call, Email, or download our phone app to make requests.

Requests for pickups must be made by the end of the day Monday.

Click Refuse, Recycling, and Other Pickups, then select Special/Bulk Pickup in the subtype dropdown!

To contact us by phone call: 301-725-0088 Monday through Friday from 8:00 a.m. to 4:00 p.m. (TTY/Text users call via Maryland Relay). After hour callers may leave a message on our automated voice mail system. For your convenience you can also schedule a special pickup or yard debris collection 24/7 by e-mailing Public Works at [email protected].  You can also schedule a bulk item pickup through our online ap located below through the My Laurel mobile app.

How Do I Prepare a Special Pickup?

Special pickup items must be set out to the curb before 7:00 a.m. the morning of the collection. For your convenience items may be set out after 7:30 a.m. on the Saturday before the scheduled pickup.  If you have a home owner's association (HOA) they may have more restrictive requirements on when items may be set out.

Items must be at the curb or as close to the street as possible.  We can not come onto your private property to collect items placed against the house, under a deck, etc.

Please separate your metal items from your regular household goods.  The Department has separate trucks to collect metal items and regular household items. 

During the day of your pickup you may find half of the pile has been taken and the other half was "missed."  This may be because one truck (metal truck or household truck) has been through but the other has not.  If you believe your items were missed please call the office on the next day (Thursday) so we can return for your items.

Fees and Guidelines

All pickups have a base fee of $10.00 per pickup.  This $10.00 fee covers many items such as:  bed frames, bedside tables, bedding, pillows, dining tables, dining chairs, cups and plates, desks (under 80 pounds), computer chairs, clothing, toys, tools, buckets, pots, pans, garden tools, vacuum cleaners, pet crates, books, pressure washers, microwaves, toaster ovens, small kitchen appliances, and many other house hold items!

Some items do have extra fees that are charged per item in addition to the base fee.  Items with an extra charge include major appliances, electronics, large furniture, and remodeling debris. When you request your pickup we will ask you about the items you plan to put out and let you know the total cost for your pickup.  We will not pick up items with extra charges if you do not tell us about them when scheduling your pickup! So please tell us everything you plan to put out for pickup.  

These fees will be billed after the pickup has occurred.  You will receive an invoice in the mail within a few weeks of the pickup.  The bill can be paid online (here), in person at City Hall (also called the Municipal Center at 8103 Sandy Spring Road), or over the phone with Budget and Personnel Services at 301-725-5300 (over the phone payments are discouraged and reserved only for exceptional circumstances that would otherwise prevent you from coming into City Hall or paying online).

Please see the table below for some of the items that have extra charges. This list is not exhaustive and other fees may apply - including exceptionally large quantities of typically not-billable items (for example, 50 dining chairs or 50 student desks). For substantial quantities of items, such as cleaning out an entire house, we allow up to 30 minutes of time per house for our crew (3 men).  If your house requires more time than this, additional pickups at later dates and additional fees may be required. 

Items with Extra Charges

New prices effective July 1, 2020

* First two are included in the $10 base fee

** Must be light enough for two men to lift.  If special equipment is required to lift it additional charges will apply.

Mattresses and Box Springs must be full sealed in plastic mattress bags (read more here).

Construction & Remodeling Debris and Toters

Remodeling debris collected from domestic sources must use one of the City's approved toters.  The toters are a large 95 gallon trash can with a metal bar that allows the city trucks to lift them on a lift bar.  You may be familiar with these toters as our local businesses use them for commercial refuse. Each toter can hold up to 200 pounds of debris.  Debris must be cut down so that the lid of the toter can close. The toters have a rental fee of $10.00 each that is charged each time the toter is emptied.

Construction debris will not be collected from projects done by professional contractors working on a residence.  The city's bulk item pickups are meant to help city residents and not to assist private businesses. 

Remodeling debris includes: bricks, concrete, lumber, plaster, drywall, tin/roofing materials, dirt, stone, asphalt, landscaping rocks, linoleum, flooring materials, ceiling tiles, bathroom and floor tiles, and door frames. Shingles are considered hazardous waste and cannot be collected by the City.

Restrictions

• Household hazardous items, such as oil-based paint, paint thinners and solvents, pesticides, roofing shingles, and some car parts such as engines, gas tanks, metal fenders, etc. Please call if you have any questions about prohibited items.
• Compressed air canisters cannot be picked up in a special pickup.
• Gas Tanks.  Gas tanks are considered hazardous waste and pose a risk of explosion/combustion when crushed or taken to the landfill.  Gas tanks must be removed from any mower or generator and cannot be collected as part of a bulky item pickup.
• Wet Latex paint cants.  Empty or completely dried up Latex paint cans may be collected.  If you have filled the can with kitty litter, please have the lid off at the time of pickup so our crews can see it is dry.
• Animal carcasses and human waste are not allowed.
• For safety reasons please remove the doors from all appliances (refrigerators, freezers, ovens, dishwashers, etc.).
• Construction debris will not be collected from commercial/professional contractors working on a residence.  The city's bulk pickup is meant to help city residents and not to assist private businesses.

For further information and instructions for disposal on items outside of these guidelines, please contact the Department of Public Works.

What Do I Do With Restricted Items?

If you have restricted items that the City of Laurel cannot collect, you will want to contact the Prince George's County Dump - The Brown Station Landfill (301-952-7610).  Area residents and businesses may use the Brown Station Road Landfill in Upper Marlboro. The site is about 23 miles south of Laurel on Maryland Route 202.  The dump is not affiliated with the City of Laurel, but is under the jurisdiction of the Prince George's County Government. You will want to contact them directly for hours, items accepted and dumping fees.