Junk removal costs in Omaha

Omaha's curbside service isn't built for your old couch. Large items that the carts can't take have two city routes out: a drive to the transfer station, or a neighborhood cleanup day.

The drive is the year-round option. The city contracts with River City Transfer, on South 60th Street, to take bulky waste from Omaha residents at a subsidized price. You get up to four subsidized loads per calendar year. Bring two proofs that you live inside city limits, and ask for the "city program" when you pull in. State and local law says the load has to be tarped. Furniture, mattresses, lumber, drywall, swing sets and bikes can all go there. Appliances, tires and paint are not.

The cleanups come in spring and fall. The fall one runs on Saturdays in October, with a different part of the city each week. Neighborhood and homeowner associations host the sites, but you don't have to belong to one to drop off. You unload your own car. Appliances and brush go only to the sites marked for them, and tires now get their own separate collection.

That leaves the odd stuff in the back of the garage. A water heater or a microwave doesn't count as an appliance at a cleanup site. And if you're pulling old railroad ties out of a garden bed, saw them down first. No cleanup site takes a full-size railroad tie, only pieces cut to about a foot long.