Junk removal costs in Portland

Portland doesn't send a city truck for your old couch. The garbage company that already serves your house, duplex, triplex or fourplex will pick up big items from the curb instead, at rates the city sets. Call it at least a week ahead for a quote and a date, and don't put anything out until the day it's booked. If you rent, the request goes through your landlord, since the account is in their name. In an apartment building, ask the property manager where large items go.

The city also asks you to skip the sidewalk "free pile." Its reasons are practical: in wet weather the stuff gets less usable, it blocks the sidewalk, and it draws pests. Its own donation and swap resources are the suggested route instead.

Metro also runs two transfer stations where you can drop off garbage or hazardous waste yourself: Metro Central on NW 61st Avenue in Portland, and Metro South in Oregon City. Check their hours and what they accept before you load the car.

Mattresses have a route of their own now. Oregon's Mattress Stewardship Act, passed in 2022, requires convenient drop-off sites for used mattresses, with at least one permanent site in every county of 10,000 people or more. Most mattresses and box springs are covered. Futons, sofa beds, waterbeds, air mattresses and crib mattresses aren't.