Start with your town's bulk pickup
Couches, chairs, tables and dressers are standard bulk items, and nearly every Central NJ town has a way to collect them. Bulk pickup is run town by town, by Public Works or the town's contracted hauler, so the first step is finding out which pattern your town follows. Tap a town below for its own page, and confirm the current schedule on the town's site before you set anything out.
Most towns fit one of these patterns:
- A few pieces with regular trash. Hamilton treats couches and dressers as household bulky items and takes a few on the second trash day of each week. Robbinsville takes a limited number of furniture pieces with household trash each week, and Mount Holly takes one large item, like a sofa or loveseat, with weekly trash. Princeton collects bulk weekly too, but only with a reservation made ahead of time.
- Once a month. Toms River allows one bulk collection a month once you call Public Works to get on the list. Lakewood collects bulk monthly by zone, only from addresses that called in by the day before. Lakehurst, Wall, Manalapan and Lawrence each collect bulk items on a set day each month, with a cap on how much each home puts out. In Plumsted Township (New Egypt), where residents arrange their own trash service, the Plumsted MUA's Waste Management contract includes a monthly bulk pickup that names sofas, chairs, tables, desks and dressers.
- By appointment. Brick schedules bulk by phone, with a yearly limit per household. Bordentown Township collects furniture twice a month by zone, only for homes that call or send in the online form before the weekly cutoff. East Brunswick requires a reservation and limits how many items go out. Howell offers curbside bulk pickup by appointment in spring and fall.
- A few times a year. Freehold Township runs one curbside bulk collection each fall, sector by sector, and sofas, chairs and tables are on its list. Manchester picks up bulk twice a year, Sayreville collects heavy trash three times a year by zone with no extra pickups on request, and Marlboro runs one curbside bulk collection each spring by zone, with the dates on the township recycling calendar. Jackson runs bulky pickup on a zone schedule posted each year. Miss one of these and the next chance can be months away.
- No town bulk pickup. Old Bridge doesn't collect household trash or bulk items like furniture and couches. Residents hire a private hauler.
Measure the couch before you drag it out
This is where couches get left behind. Many bulk programs cap each item by size or weight, and a full sofa, sectional or sleeper can run past those caps. The towns don't say "no couches"; they set a limit, and it's up to you to check yours against it:
- Princeton and Lawrence limit bulk items to 50 pounds each. Lawrence also leaves behind anything too big to fit in the truck's hopper.
- The Plumsted MUA (New Egypt) says each item must fit within 4 feet high, 4 feet wide and 4 feet long, and items that don't meet that aren't collected.
- Sayreville limits each heavy trash pickup to two cubic yards, or 3 x 3 x 6 feet.
- Marlboro's spring collection takes no single item over 300 pounds and no more than 5 cubic yards from each home.
- Freehold Township's fall collection takes nothing longer than 8 feet or heavier than 200 pounds.
- Metal is often handled separately. Princeton and Manalapan exclude metal from bulk, and Lawrence collects metal items by appointment. If your couch is a sleeper or a recliner with a metal mechanism, mention it when you call Public Works.
Getting a couch ready for the curb
Cover upholstered pieces. Jackson requires mattresses and cushions to be covered, and a couch that sits through a rainstorm gets heavier and messier for whoever lifts it next. If a mattress or box spring is going out with the couch, wrap it in plastic: Hamilton, Robbinsville, Lawrence, Sayreville, Bordentown Township and the Plumsted MUA all require it. Bordentown Township hands out free mattress bags at its Public Works Complex. More on that in our mattress guides for Monmouth, Ocean, Mercer, Burlington and Middlesex counties.
Put it out on time, not days early. Jackson allows bulk at the curb no more than 48 hours before pickup, and Mount Holly warns that large amounts left at the curb won't be picked up and can bring code enforcement violations. If the truck passed you by, move the couch back to the garage or driveway and read what to do after a missed bulk pickup.
Drop it off at a town site
With a pickup truck and a second set of hands, a drop-off can beat waiting for your zone's date. These sites are for residents only. Bring proof of residency, plan to unload it yourself, and check the site's current hours and rules before you load up. Most turn away contractors and commercial vehicles, and some refuse rentals too.
- Howell runs a Free Bulk Waste Program at the Township Recycling Center on Old Tavern Road, one pickup-truck load per visit.
- Toms River's Recycling Convenience Center on Church Road takes all kinds of furniture, pianos and pool tables included, in vehicles no bigger than a pickup.
- Jackson's Transfer Station on Don Connor Boulevard takes furniture from Jackson residents with two forms of ID, but no house cleanouts.
- Brick residents can bring bulk items to the Recycling Center on Ridge Road with a tax bill and driver's license, up to a yearly visit limit.
- Manchester residents can take bulk to the Whiting Recycling Center with a township vehicle sticker, which the township gives out at no charge.
- Marlboro residents can drop bulk items at the township recycling yard with a free bulk permit.
- Sayreville residents can bring couches and chairs to Fort Grumpy on Bordentown Avenue. Box trucks, flatbeds, dump trailers and longer trailers aren't allowed.
Can you take old furniture to the dump?
It depends on the county, and on whether you live there.
Monmouth County: the Reclamation Center on Asbury Avenue in Tinton Falls takes old furniture, charged by weight. Bring your driver's license and your personal vehicle's current registration to the scales, and tarp or cover any open load. Residents can't use rental vehicles or vehicles with commercial plates.
Ocean County: the county's Northern and Southern Recycling Centers are set up for recyclables, brush, leaves and special waste; furniture isn't on their list. The county lists the Ocean County Landfill on Route 70 in Manchester for bulky trash. It's privately owned and run, and Manchester tells its residents the landfill charges for bulk items, so call before you go.
Burlington County: the Resource Recovery Complex in Florence takes bulky waste like furniture, charged by weight. Residents can haul their own household waste in a passenger vehicle, but everyone checks in at the scale house first, a Waste Origin and Disposal Form is required, and the county turns away rented vehicles of any size.
Mercer County: no county-run furniture drop-off was found, so Mercer residents go through their town's bulk program, like Hamilton's, Princeton's or Lawrence's.
Middlesex County: the county landfill in East Brunswick takes only licensed haulers, not loads from residential vehicles. For bulky waste the county points residents to their local Public Works, a licensed hauler, or one of the private transfer stations it lists, which take loads from personal vehicles for a fee. Call first.
Can someone else use it?
If a piece is still good and you want it to go to a charity, a neighbor or family, set that up yourself before cleanout day.
We don't donate. Once furniture is on our truck, it's handled as waste under our NJDEP A-901 license. Metal frames and mechanisms are recycled when possible, and the rest goes to licensed transfer stations and landfills. If a few pieces are spoken for, tell us when you text photos and we'll leave them where they are.
When the curb won't work: move-outs and cleanouts
Bulk pickup is built for a few pieces, not a whole house. Toms River doesn't collect move-outs or excessive volumes at the curb, and Hamilton tells residents doing home, garage or basement cleanouts to make other arrangements, like a dumpster. Jackson's bulky pickup is for a homeowner's own items, not a landlord clearing out a house, and its transfer station turns away house cleanouts. In Mount Holly, a move-out dumpster has to be scheduled through the Construction and Housing office, with the paperwork filed first.
If you're emptying a parent's house, a rental between tenants, or a basement full of old furniture, look at estate cleanouts, landlord cleanouts, basement cleanouts or garage cleanouts, and work through our estate cleanout checklist.
When it's easier to have us haul it
If your zone's date is months away, the couch is over your town's limit, or it's still in the basement, text photos to (855) 655-7552 and tell us where it sits. You'll get one upfront price. Jobs have a $250 minimum, and the price we quote is the price you pay. Same-day and next-day openings are often available across Monmouth, Ocean, Mercer, Burlington and Middlesex counties.
Dominic and his crew carry it out from any room, upstairs or down, and sweep up before we leave. You never have to take a couch, sectional or sleeper sofa apart; if a piece has to come apart to get out the door, that's our job. We take everything except hazardous and medical waste, like oil-based or still-wet paint, chemicals, gas cans, motor oil, propane tanks and asbestos (see what we can't take). Dried-out latex paint cans can go with the couch. Read more about furniture removal and mattress removal, or book a free estimate.
Services for this job
- Furniture Removal
- Mattress Removal
- Estate Cleanouts
- Basement Cleanouts
- Garage Cleanouts
- Rental, Eviction & Foreclosure Cleanouts
