Junk removal costs in Modesto

Modesto lets you swap a bulky pickup for a trip of your own. Ask your garbage company for a voucher instead of a pickup; you can use two a year. Each one is held at your provider's transfer station and is good for seven days, and a load can be no bigger than 4 by 4 by 8 feet.

For a curbside pickup, each residential customer gets two per calendar year, by appointment, with your own garbage company, Gilton or Bertolotti Disposal. Wait until 6 p.m. the evening before, then set everything in the street against the curb in front of your own house. Nothing gets collected from the alley, and the pile can't block a sidewalk, driveway, hydrant or storm drain.

The city's bulky item list reads like a remodel inventory. The toilet, sink and tub can go to the curb. So can a hot tub, a water heater or a water softener. Construction and demolition debris, wood and plate glass are still out, though, along with TVs, computer monitors, tires and paint.

Out in unincorporated Stanislaus County, the county runs its own twice-a-year program for garbage subscribers. There you call at least two weeks ahead, and a pile can't top 6 feet in any direction.

Apartments get a trial run. The city is piloting bulky pickup for complexes and multiplexes that use dumpsters, a two-year test meant to keep old couches from turning into illegal dumping and blight.