5 Ways to Remove My Junk from My Austin Home

Is perfectly good, livable space going to waste in your home? Accumulating items you no longer want, need or have a use for seems to happen so gradually, most of us never notice how much we’ve accrued until the situation reaches a tipping point. When that happens, it’s not always easy to figure out where you should turn for help. If you find yourself asking, “How will I remove my junk?” it may be time to start considering your options in the Austin area.

Getting Familiar with Junk Removal Options in Austin

The city of Austin is working hard toward a zero-waste goal, with municipal waste programs designed to minimize the environmental impact of disposal. Choosing the best option, in most cases, simply means choosing the one which is best suited to your needs, project and lifestyle. Here are some of the most popular options in the area, so you can make an informed decision regarding your unwanted items.

Municipal Pickup Programs

Like most municipal districts, the city of Austin does offer municipal pickup through Austin Resource Recovery for bulk items. Unlike many other cities, however, it only happens twice per year and the dates are set by the city. This means you can’t make an appointment based on your own scheduling needs if you plan to rely on Austin Resource Recovery. There are also several rules, limitations and guidelines in place that can make this one of the more challenging options from a logistics standpoint. Austin Resource Recovery bulk collection accepts doors, carpet, furniture, appliances with doors removed, passenger car tires (limit eight per household with rims removed), lawn mowers with gas/oil removed, railroad ties that have been cut in half, pallets, rolled fencing and nail-free lumber. Mirrors and sheet glass, brush and lawn waste, household trash, cardboard, hazardous chemicals, automotive bodies and chassis, motorcycles, trailers, boats, and tires still mounted on rims are not accepted. Nor is any construction and demolition debris. Items you want to dispose of through this twice-yearly program must be placed at the curb by 6:30AM on the first morning of your designated collection weeks. Items must be five feet away from trash carts, mailboxes, fences and walls, water meters, telephone connection boxes and parked cars. They must not be placed under low-hanging tree limbs or power lines, and they need to be separated into three distinct piles: metal items, passenger car tires and non-metal items. The first two are taken to recycling facilities, while items in the latter pile will make their way directly to a landfill despite zero-waste goals.

Do-It-Yourself Hauling

Sometimes it seems easier, faster and more efficient to just take care of your unwanted items yourself and on your own schedule. You’ll need to have access to a vehicle large enough to accommodate the things you want to get rid of, though, along with any needed assistance loading and unloading heavy, ungainly items. If you don’t have access to a truck, you’ll need to be prepared for rental and administrative fees, insurance costs and fueling expenses, along with any fees or processing costs collected at recycling centers and landfills.

Donation

When the items you no longer want or need are in usable condition, dropping them off at a landfill or recycling center doesn’t always leave you with the best feeling. With so many in need, it’s always better to keep items in the community and out of the garbage. A plethora of donation centers makes it easy to find a new home for these things, but it’s important to note that many of these organizations do not offer pickup services. This means you’ll be doing good for the community and good for the environment, but you’ll still need an appropriate vehicle and help with the heavy lifting.

Garage and Estate Sales

Why send your unwanted items to the dump, recycling center or the donation center when they could help you earn some cash? A garage sale or an estate sale seems like the best way to accomplish this goal, but the hidden costs can make this one of the more labor-intensive options with very little return on your investment. By the time you stage items, purchase items you’ll need to facilitate the sale and invest time and money into advertising, you may find yourself with little to show for it all at the end of the day. There’s also a good chance you’ll still have plenty left over, and this option is only effective if the vast majority of your junk is still in reasonably good condition.

Private Hauling

At first blush, working with a private hauler can feel like an unnecessary extravagance. Scratch the surface, though, and you may find it’s the best option for you. Choose a provider who cares deeply about their own environmental impact, and you can end the process with a clean space and a clear conscience.

What’s the Most Ethical and Efficient Way to Remove My Junk?

Whether you’re getting rid of things to prepare for a big move, to make more space in your home or anything else you can imagine, we understand the importance of greener, more responsible junk removal. Our Jiffy Junk technicians at Austin Junk removal will come to your home or place of business to remove just about anything you no longer need or want, but we’re not like other removal companies.

Our trained and knowledgeable removal techs separate usable items for donation, ensure recyclable items are sent to the appropriate facility and work hard to minimize landfill dumping. This means we seek out recycling programs for difficult-to-recycle items whenever we can, because we believe in keeping our environmental impact as small as possible while providing the very best in white-glove, full-service hauling.

This means you never have to do any of the heavy lifting, worry about coordinating your schedule with those two days each year Austin Resource Recovery will provide bulk removal or worry about ecologically-unsound practices. We’ll leave your space swept clean and free of dust, even tearing up old carpeting and uninstalling unwanted appliances, if necessary. Don’t let a big job become a source of stress; if you’re wondering “Who will remove my junk?” let us take care of everything with a single phone call.