The side-by-side
| Denver Large Item Pickup | JunkRabbit (paid) | |
|---|---|---|
| Cost | Free | Flat photo price from $75 |
| Speed | Up to ~9 weeks (rotating zone) | Same-day |
| Who carries it | You — curbside only | Us — carried out from inside |
| Item cap | 5 large items + ~10 bags | None — one item to a full house |
| Appliances (fridge/AC) | Excluded | Taken, freon recovered |
| Electronics / TVs | Excluded (CO landfill ban) | Taken, e-cycled |
| Tires | Excluded | Taken |
| Renovation / C&D debris | Excluded | Taken (volume line) |
| Who's eligible | City-trash homes only | Homes, apartments, suburbs |
| Tax | — | No CO sales tax — all-in |
This is the widest same-day/full-service gap in the metro: the free program is genuinely useful for a couple of curb-able items you're in no hurry about — and useless for everything else.
How Denver Large Item Pickup actually works
Give the city its due — it's a real, free program and worth using when it fits. The City & County of Denver's Large Item Pickup (schedule it through Denver 311 · 720-913-1311) lets residents on the city trash service set out bulky items for collection. The catches are specific and they matter:
- Every ~9 weeks. Your home sits in a rotating zone; you may wait up to two months for the truck to reach you.
- Five large items + ~10 bags, max. A single move-out or basement blows past that fast.
- Curbside-only. You have to get every item out of the house and onto the curb yourself, then leave it on the street until pickup day.
- City-trash customers only. Most apartment buildings and the surrounding suburbs aren't on the route at all.
If your situation is "two couch cushions of clutter I can carry to the curb and I'm not in a rush," the free program is the right call. Use it.
The exclusions that trip people up
Here's where the free program quietly stops helping. Large Item Pickup excludes, entirely:
- Refrigerant appliances — refrigerators, freezers, and AC units, because they need EPA-certified freon recovery the city isn't set up to do. Your fridge is a hauler job, full stop.
- Electronics — TVs, monitors, computers, and printers, because Colorado bans e-waste from landfills under SB12-133 (2013). They must be recycled, not collected curbside.
- Tires — outside the program.
- Construction & renovation debris — pop-top and scrape-off drywall, flooring, and fixtures tip by weight and aren't part of bulky pickup.
- Mattresses at the regular curb — Denver only takes a mattress bagged and wrapped, and only on that same nine-week cycle.
For any of these, the wait time is irrelevant — the city won't take them at all, so a licensed hauler is the only path.
When the free pickup is the right choice
We'll say it plainly, because honesty is the point of this page: use the city program when all of these are true — the items are on the eligible list (no appliances, electronics, or tires), you have five or fewer of them, you can physically carry them to the curb, you're a City of Denver trash customer, and you can wait up to nine weeks. That's a real set of situations: a broken chair and a small table you can drag out this weekend and forget about. Free is free.
When paid junk removal wins
Paid, flat-price pickup earns its cost the moment any one of these is true:
- You can't wait. A lease-end, a closing, a DU June 12 checkout, a new appliance arriving — same-day beats nine weeks.
- It's an excluded item. A fridge, a TV, a set of tires, renovation debris — the city won't take it at any speed.
- It's inside. A basement freezer, a third-floor walk-up couch, a garage full — we carry it out; the city needs it curbside.
- You're not on the route. An apartment building or a suburb like Aurora, Lakewood, or Arvada.
- There's a lot of it. More than five items, a whole room, a whole house.
In every one of those, the free program isn't a cheaper option — it's a non-option, and a flat photo-quoted pickup is the actual answer.
What paid junk removal costs
So you can weigh it against "free," here's the real flat ladder — carry-out and disposal included, $75 minimum, no Colorado sales tax:
| Job | Flat price |
|---|---|
| Single small item (minimum) | $75 |
| Mattress (twin) | $82 |
| Sofa / couch | $126 |
| Refrigerator (city won't take it) | $164 |
| Quarter truck-fill (a room) | $241 |
| Half truck-fill (a garage / 1-bed) | $431 |
| Full truck (whole-house / estate) | $732 |
The number comes from a photo before we drive out — no on-site reveal — and it's the all-in price with no tax line on top.
The honest bottom line
Denver's Large Item Pickup and paid junk removal aren't really competing for the same job — they're built for opposite situations. The free program is a slow, curbside, limited, exclusion-heavy convenience for a couple of eligible items you can carry out and aren't in a hurry about. Paid, flat-price pickup is for everything else: the appliances and electronics the city refuses, the stuff that's stuck inside, the deadline, the apartment, the full load. Neither is "better" in the abstract — but for most people who search this question, they're searching it because the free program doesn't fit their situation, and this is where the flat photo price earns its keep.
What Denver customers say
"Scheduled the city for my fridge before I learned they don't even take fridges. These guys came the next morning, recovered the freon, flat price. Wish I'd started here."
"Apartment isn't on the city route, so 'free' was never an option for me anyway. Flat quote from a photo, carried a couch and mattress down two flights same day. Worth every dollar."
"Selling the house, couldn't sit on a nine-week city schedule. Full-truck estate cleanout, one flat number, donation receipt for the good stuff. Done in an afternoon."
Large Item Pickup vs paid, answered
How often does the city come?
About once every nine weeks on a rotating zone schedule, free, via Denver 311 (720-913-1311) — but curbside-only and city-trash homes only.
What won't the city take?
Appliances, electronics/TVs, and tires are excluded entirely; renovation debris too, and mattresses only bagged-and-wrapped on the same cycle.
When should I just pay?
When you can't wait, the item's excluded, it's stuck inside, you're not on the city route, or you have more than five items.
What does paid cost?
Flat photo price from a $75 minimum — couch $126, fridge $164, quarter truck $241, full truck $732 — all-in, no CO sales tax.
Price your Denver pickup
Frequently asked questions
How often does Denver Large Item Pickup come?
About once every nine weeks. Each city-trash home is on a rotating zone schedule, so when you set an item out you may wait up to two months for the truck to reach your zone. You schedule it through Denver 311 at 720-913-1311, and it's free — but it is the slowest option on the board.
What are the limits on Denver Large Item Pickup?
It's curbside-only, capped at five large items plus about ten bags per pickup, and it excludes appliances, electronics, and tires entirely. You also have to be a City of Denver trash customer — most apartment buildings and the surrounding suburbs aren't on the route. And you do all the lifting: the item has to be out at the curb yourself.
What does Denver Large Item Pickup NOT take?
Refrigerant appliances (fridges, freezers, AC), electronics like TVs and computers, and tires are all excluded — refrigerant appliances because they need EPA-certified freon recovery, and electronics because Colorado bans them from landfills (SB12-133). Construction and renovation debris is also outside the program. For any of those you need a hauler regardless of how long you're willing to wait.
When is paid junk removal worth it over the free city pickup?
When you can't wait up to nine weeks, when the item is an appliance/TV/tire the city won't take, when it's inside the house and you can't carry it to the curb, when you're an apartment or suburb that isn't on the city route, or when you have more than five items. In those cases the free program simply doesn't apply, and a flat photo-quoted, same-day pickup from $75 does.
How much is paid junk removal in Denver?
Flat and photo-quoted, with a $75 minimum. Single items are set prices — a couch is $126, a mattress from $111, a fridge $164 — and bigger loads price by truck-fill, from $241 for a quarter load to $732 for a full truck. There's no Colorado sales tax on the service, so the photo quote is the all-in price, and we carry it out from inside.