Tucson · Pima County

Junk removal and hauling in Tucson

A truck, two people and the landfill fee. That is what you are buying, and knowing the price of the third part tells you what the first two are worth.

How junk removal in Tucson is priced — hauled off, hauled away, or picked up at the curb

Whether you call it having junk hauled off, hauled away or picked up, the price is built the same way. Almost every hauler prices by volume — the share of the truck your load fills, quoted in quarters or eighths. The national franchises describe a full truck as about 400 cubic feet and roughly two tons; a local hauler with a trailer or a box truck will have his own measure, so ask what a full load means before you compare anyone’s number to anyone else’s. The published guides for 2025 and 2026 put a few items to a quarter truck at $150 to $350, a half truck at $300 to $550 and a full truck at $600 to $900. The Tucson curbside services that publish rates start around $59 for a single item left at the curb.

Weight matters on top of volume for the dense stuff. The Los Reales scale house charges $18 for a covered load under 2,000 pounds and $38 a ton above it, so a truck of broken tile is a different job from a truck of patio cushions even if they fill the same space. Stairs, a long carry from the back of the lot, a gate the truck cannot get through, and same-day timing all add labor, and labor is most of the bill.

What the landfill charges — the part of your quote you can check

The City of Tucson publishes the rates at the Los Reales Sustainability Campus, 5300 E. Los Reales Road, reached by turning south on Craycroft off I-10. Covered load under 2,000 pounds, $18. Heavier, $38 per ton. Uncovered, $10 more. Tires, $5 each, limit ten. Appliances that use refrigerant, $20 each. A $2 environmental fee on every load. Open Monday through Saturday, 6 a.m. to 5 p.m., closed Sundays and on New Year’s Day, Thanksgiving and Christmas. Cards only.

So the tip fee inside a $300 quote for a half truck of household junk is $20 to $40. The rest is the crew, the truck, the fuel, the insurance and the stops on the way. That is a fair trade for a morning you do not spend lifting, but it means a hauler who says the landfill made him raise the price is not telling you the whole story. The cost guide lays the published ranges beside the fee sheet.

What the gate refuses, so the hauler should too

Los Reales will not take hazardous waste, waste oil, lead-acid batteries, bulk liquids, explosives or ammunition. Brush and Bulky, the free city pickup, adds its own refusals: gas cylinders, concrete, construction material, dirt and rock, glass and mirrors, and televisions or monitors. A hauler who loads paint cans and a propane tank with the furniture is planning to pull them out at the gate, pay a special-handling fee, or lose them somewhere on the way.

The right place for those items is the Household Hazardous Waste drop-off on the same campus, open Thursday, Friday and Saturday from 7 a.m. to 2 p.m. and closed on the second Saturday of most months. It is free for City of Tucson residents and $15 with a driver’s license or utility bill for Marana, Oro Valley, Sahuarita and unincorporated Pima County. It takes paint up to 25 gallons, automotive fluids up to 10 gallons, propane cylinders, auto and rechargeable batteries, fluorescent tubes, pesticides, pool chemicals and most electronics. What haulers cannot take in Tucson goes item by item.

When the free city pickup is the better answer

If you live inside the city limits, your address is in one of 26 residential service areas that each get a Brush and Bulky collection twice a year. Up to 10 cubic yards per household — the city says one cubic yard is about the size of a washing machine — set out by 6 a.m. on the Monday of your collection week, no more than two weeks early, at least three feet from the bins and the meters. Furniture, appliances, carpet, lumber and brush cut to five feet all go. No fee.

A hauler earns his money when the calendar does not cooperate, when the pile is bigger than ten cubic yards, when the material is on the refused list, or when the address is outside the city. This site will tell you which case you are in before anyone books a truck; Brush and Bulky vs hiring a hauler is the long version.

How the day goes

1. The quote. From photos for a garage or a curb pile; from a walk-through for a house. In writing, with the volume it assumes and the overage rate.
2. The sort. Anything usable is set aside for a donation center — where to donate in Tucson names six that take furniture and appliances. Hazardous items are separated for the city drop-off.
3. The load. Heavy items first and low, light items on top, tarp over everything — an uncovered load costs the hauler $10 more at the gate and costs you a citation if it blows off on I-10.
4. The receipt. Ask for it. It shows the weight and the fee and it is the only proof of where the load went.

The meaning of junk removal: residential, commercial, and the words in Spanish

Junk removal means someone else’s truck, crew and landfill run for things you have already decided to get rid of — the furniture, boxes, appliances, yard debris and remodel leftovers that a trash can will not take and a mover will not load. It is not organizing, and it is not cleaning: the hauler carries out what you point at and takes it to Los Reales, a donation center or the hazardous-waste drop-off; the deciding is yours. Residential junk removal is a house, a garage, a yard, a storage unit or an estate. Commercial junk removal is an office, a shop or a rental turnover, priced the same way — by the truck — with two differences: the city’s Household Hazardous Waste drop-off is a household program and refuses commercial waste, so a business’s paint and chemicals need a licensed hazardous-waste contractor instead, and a commercial load is more often heavy enough to cross the landfill’s 2,000-pound line into $38-a-ton pricing.

In Spanish the same work is searched as recolección de basura, retiro de escombros for debris, or limpieza de casas y garajes for a cleanout — same hauler, same gate, same published rates. This site does not promise a Spanish-speaking crew; ask when you get in touch.

Same-day junk, waste or rubbish removal in Tucson — and the honest answer to ‘open now’ and ‘24 hour’ when a load is needed fast

Same-day is often possible for a small load when the schedule has room, and it is the first thing to say when you get in touch: what the pile is, where it is, and what day it has to be gone. Two clocks limit it. Los Reales closes at 5 p.m., Monday to Saturday, and is closed Sundays, so a truck loaded late in the afternoon tips the next morning. The Household Hazardous Waste drop-off opens only Thursday to Saturday, 7 a.m. to 2 p.m., so a load with paint or a propane tank in it cannot finish the same day on a Tuesday, however fast the hauler is. Whether you call it junk, waste or rubbish removal, the same two clocks apply.

“Open now” and “24 hour” deserve a plain answer: this site is not open 24 hours, and neither is the landfill. Anything sent after hours is answered first thing. What a fast hauler can do is quote from photos the same evening and load first thing in the morning — which, for a lease end or a closing, is usually what “now” actually needs. If the date is fixed, say so, and ask whether the morning is open.

Junk car removal in Tucson is a different trade: the landfill refuses intact automobiles

A junk hauler will not take a car, and Los Reales will not accept one — intact automobiles are on the landfill’s refused list, alongside waste oil and lead-acid batteries. Vehicle removal is the business of tow operators, salvage yards and scrap recyclers, who need the title or the paperwork the Arizona Department of Transportation requires before a vehicle changes hands, and who, for a car with scrap value, may pay rather than charge. What a junk hauler can take is what is around the car: the tires, at $5 each at the gate and limited to ten; the parts, as scrap metal; the shelf of oil and coolant, to the hazardous-waste drop-off, not the truck. If the search was really for the car itself, this is the wrong trade, and the hauler you are matched with will say so.

Questions people ask

What counts as a full truck?

It depends on the truck. The big franchises run boxes of roughly 400 cubic feet that hold about two tons; a local hauler may run a dump trailer or a stake bed with a different capacity. Ask for the cubic yards or the dimensions before you compare a full-load price from one company with another. Ten cubic yards — the Brush and Bulky limit — is about ten washing machines stacked together.

Can the hauler take everything in one trip?

Usually for a garage or a room; rarely for a whole house. A second trip is priced as a second load, so ask whether the quote is for the job or for the truck. If it is for the truck, ask how many trucks the hauler thinks the job is, and get that number in writing.

Is same-day junk removal available in Tucson?

Often, for small loads, when the schedule has room. Los Reales closes at 5 p.m. and the hazardous-waste drop-off closes at 2 p.m. on the days it opens, so a late-afternoon call for a load with paint in it will not finish the same day. Say when you get in touch if the date is fixed by a closing or a lease.

Does the hauler take mattresses?

Yes. Los Reales lists mattresses among the materials it accepts, and Brush and Bulky takes them at the curb inside the city. Donation centers are the problem: most in Tucson will not take a used mattress, so budget for it to go to the landfill.

What if I only have one item?

The curbside services that publish Tucson prices start around $59 to $159 for a single item left outside, which is usually the cheapest way to move one couch. A full-service pickup from inside the house runs $80 to $220 in the published ranges. If the item is light enough for a pickup and you own one, Los Reales will take it for about $20.

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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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