Before paying anyone to haul something in Huntsville, find out what the city will take from the curb for free. This page is the plain version of the rules; the official page with the current limits and fees is linked at the bottom, and the city changes the details from time to time.
The city's own trucks collect more than most people expect: furniture, appliances, boxes and limbs all qualify on your route day, within limits on size and volume. The catch is the route day itself, the length rule for limbs, and the list of things that are never collected. Madison and the unincorporated parts of the county run under different rules, and Athens and Decatur under their own.
What curbside collection usually takes
- Household garbage in the city cart, once a week, at the curb by 7 a.m. on your route day.
- Yard waste: leaves, grass and clippings in bags under fifty pounds, and tree limbs cut to five feet or shorter.
- Bulk items: boxes, furniture, household items and appliances such as refrigerators, washing machines and water heaters, placed at the curb for your route.
- Up to about ten cubic yards of yard waste at no charge; larger piles are billed by the city in five-yard steps.
What it usually will not take
- Construction and renovation debris, and any debris from a contractor's work or a commercial project.
- Dirt, rocks, bricks, cinder blocks, shingles and concrete.
- Tree limbs and trimmings that come from clearing land rather than yard maintenance.
- Paint, solvents, chemicals, batteries and electronics, which go to the Solid Waste Disposal Authority's drop-off on A Cleaner Way, open weekdays.
- Whole sheds, hot tubs, fence runs and playsets, and anything in the volume of an estate cleanout or a rental turnover.
Where a junk crew fits in Huntsville
Everything on the second list, plus anything that has to leave before your route day, anything heavy, and anything upstairs, in a basement or behind the house that you would rather not carry to the curb yourself. The quote tells you if part of your pile is something the city would take for free, so you pay only for the rest.
After a storm
After the April 2011 outbreak and every major storm since, the city and the county have run special debris passes for vegetation cut to length and stacked at the curb, kept separate from garbage and from building material. Those passes can take weeks to reach every street. The crew hauls what the passes exclude, fence panels, roofing, shed pieces and mixed piles, and anything that has to move before the trucks come around.
Official pages
The links under Local resources on the home page go to the city's residential collection page, its hazardous-waste page and the county site, which carry the current schedules, limits and drop-off hours.
Questions we get about this
How do I get the city of Huntsville to pick up a couch?
Put it at the curb on your route day, at least five feet from mailboxes, poles and parked cars, and the city's route takes it along with other bulk items. Look up your route day by address on the city's site first. If you cannot wait for the route day, or the couch is upstairs and you would rather not carry it, that is the job the crew does the same day.
Does the city pick up appliances like refrigerators?
The City of Huntsville's collection page lists refrigerators, washing machines and water heaters among the appliances it collects at the curb. Get it to the curb by 7 a.m. on your route day. If you need it carried out of a basement or gone before then, a crew hauls it and takes it to a facility that recovers the refrigerant.
What about renovation debris in the weekly trash?
No, and the city will not collect it beside the bin either; its rules exclude construction debris and contractor waste outright. Remodeling debris leaves by truck pickup or by a dumpster and ends at a facility that accepts it.