Tucson · Pima County

Furniture and appliance removal in Tucson

A refrigerator is the one item on this page with a federal rule attached. Everything else is a question of who carries it and whether anyone wants it.

Refrigerators, freezers and air conditioners: the $20 that is not optional

Los Reales charges $20 for every appliance designed to use refrigerant — refrigerators, chest freezers, window units, dehumidifiers. The fee exists because of the EPA’s Section 608 rules, which say that equipment entering the waste stream with its charge intact must have the refrigerant recovered before final disposal, and that the last party in the disposal chain, such as the landfill or a scrap recycler, is responsible for making sure it happens. The hauler pays the $20 at the gate and passes it to you, and any quote that skips it for a load with a fridge in it has not looked at the load.

Do not let anyone cut the lines to get a fridge through a doorway. Take the doors off instead. A unit that arrives at the scale house with the compressor cut is a unit that has already vented, and that is the one thing the rule is written to prevent.

Working appliances are worth a phone call before the truck comes

Several Tucson organizations will collect a working appliance for nothing, which turns a $20 landfill fee plus haul charge into a receipt for your taxes. Habitat for Humanity Tucson’s HabiStore at 935 W. Grant Road schedules free pickups of appliances and furniture in resalable condition. St. Vincent de Paul at 829 S. 6th Avenue takes large and small appliances through its online pickup form, with a coordinator calling back within three business days. Gospel Rescue Mission’s donation center at 4550 S. Palo Verde Road takes working appliances and arranges pickup for larger items. The Salvation Army lists washers, dryers and air conditioners among what it accepts, but refuses gas appliances and built-ins, and its pickup scheduler decides by zip code whether a home pickup is on offer.

“Working” is the whole condition. Nobody on that list wants a dryer with a dead heating element, and a hauler will not pretend otherwise. Where to donate in Tucson has the full list with what each one refuses.

Furniture removal in Tucson: what goes where

Sofas, mattresses, dressers and tables are the bread and butter of a Tucson hauler’s week, and Los Reales accepts furniture, mattresses and rugs without special handling. Inside the city limits, Brush and Bulky takes furniture and appliances at the curb twice a year, which is the free answer if a collection week is close. Outside the city, a bulk pickup depends on the contract you or your HOA hold with a private hauler; Sahuarita’s town program includes one scheduled bulk pickup per quarter, and Oro Valley, Marana and the unincorporated areas have nothing municipal at all.

Donation is the cheaper route for anything solid. HabiStore and Gospel Rescue Mission both take couches, dining sets and bed frames in good condition; Gospel Rescue Mission specifically refuses particle-board furniture and single mattresses, and St. Vincent de Paul will not take any used mattress. Sleeper sofas, sectionals and anything with a stain usually end up on the truck.

What moves the price on a furniture job

Published ranges put a single bulky item carried out of a house at $80 to $220 and a curbside single item at $59 to $159 in Tucson. A bedroom set or the contents of a living room is usually a quarter to a half truck, $150 to $550. What pushes a job up the range is the carry: a second-floor townhouse, a narrow hallway that means the sleeper sofa comes apart, a gated driveway the truck cannot enter, or a piano. Say all of that on the phone. A hauler who arrives expecting a curb pile and finds a staircase is going to re-quote, and he will be right to.

Scrap metal has a small offset. Washers, dryers and water heaters are worth something at a scrap yard, and the Catalina Transfer Station on Oracle Road accepts household appliances as scrap at residential rates. Do not expect a discount for it, but a hauler who scraps the metal rather than tipping it is running his business well.

Who buys used furniture and appliances in Tucson, and who will not

Nobody on the donation list buys: HabiStore, St. Vincent de Paul, Gospel Rescue Mission, Goodwill and the White Elephant take furniture and appliances as gifts and hand you a receipt, and a hauler does not buy either — his business is carrying, not reselling. Who does pay is narrower. Scrap yards buy metal appliances by weight — washers, dryers, water heaters, a refrigerator once the refrigerant has been recovered — and the money is small. Consignment stores and the online marketplaces are where a solid dining set or a mid-century dresser finds a buyer, and the price is whatever someone will drive over for; this site has not vetted any of them and does not name one.

The practical rule: if a piece is good enough to sell, post it a week before the cleanout and let the buyer carry it. If nobody has come by the day before the truck, it is a donation. If it is stained, broken, particle-board or a used mattress, it was never for sale and it goes on the load. A working appliance is the one exception worth a phone call, because the free pickups want it and the landfill charges $20 to take it.

Before the crew arrives

• Empty the appliance and the drawers. A dresser full of clothes is two jobs.
• Defrost the freezer the night before, and drain the washer’s hose.
• Measure the doorway against the fridge; if the doors need to come off, say so, and do not cut lines.
• Clear a path from the item to the door — rugs up, pets shut away.
• Decide about donation first, because a working appliance that goes to the landfill is money and a receipt thrown away.

Questions people ask

Why does removing a refrigerator cost more than a couch?

Because Los Reales charges $20 per refrigerant appliance and federal Section 608 rules require the refrigerant to be recovered before the unit is scrapped, which the landfill has to arrange. The hauler pays the fee at the gate and passes it through. A couch has no such fee and is often lighter.

Can I just put a fridge out for Brush and Bulky?

Inside the Tucson city limits, yes — appliances are on the accepted list, and the city handles the refrigerant on its side. Set it out by 6 a.m. on the Monday of your collection week, no more than two weeks ahead, and consider removing or securing the door. Outside the city there is no Brush and Bulky, so it is a hauler, your trash contract’s bulk pickup, or the landfill yourself.

Will anyone pick up a used mattress for donation?

Almost never in Tucson. St. Vincent de Paul says plainly that used mattresses cannot be accepted, Gospel Rescue Mission refuses single mattresses, and the others want bedding in like-new condition. Los Reales accepts mattresses, so they go on the truck.

Do haulers take pianos and safes?

Some do, at a price that reflects two or three people and a dolly, and some will not. Say what it is, how heavy you think it is, and how many steps it has to travel, before anyone quotes. An upright piano that nobody wants is a landfill item; a safe that nobody can open is too.

What happens to the appliance after it leaves?

A working one should go to a donation center and you should get the receipt. A dead one goes to Los Reales, where it is tagged as a refrigerant appliance if it is one, or to a scrap yard or the Catalina Transfer Station as metal. Ask the hauler which, and ask for the landfill or scrap receipt if you want proof.

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Where this service is available

TucsonOro ValleyMaranaSahuaritaVailCatalina FoothillsGreen Valley

Insured local companies serving Tucson and Pima County; travel to outlying areas is usually included in the estimate — ask.

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