Detroit's 2-cubic-yard bulk pickup limit, explained

The short answer

The City of Detroit's weekly bulk pickup takes up to 2 cubic yards of bulk and renovation materials per household per week, set out by 7 a.m. on your collection day. Two cubic yards is a pile about 3 feet wide, 3 feet deep and 6 feet long, roughly one full-size sofa. Exceeding it (2 cubic yards or 1,000 pounds) was reported by Outlier Media in 2022 as carrying a $1,500 fine. For anything over the limit, a flat-price pickup starts at the $100 minimum, and a quarter truck of about 4 cubic yards is $241.

The rules in full

• Weekly, since June 3, 2024. It used to be every other week.
• Up to 2 cubic yards of bulk and renovation materials, "about the size of two stoves."
• Renovation items under 50 pounds each.
• Out by 7 a.m.; anything not collected off the curb by 9 p.m.
• Never in front of a vacant lot.
• Excluded entirely: concrete, brick, asphalt, shingles, tires, auto parts, fluids, metal poles and pipes, tree trunks.

Collection is split by contracted hauler: Priority Waste covers east of Woodward plus Southwest Detroit south of I-94, and Advanced Disposal covers west of Woodward and north of I-94. Your day depends on your address; check the city's bulk page.

What 2 cubic yards looks like

One cubic yard is 3 feet by 3 feet by 3 feet, or 27 cubic feet. Two cubic yards is 54 cubic feet. Measured by outside dimensions, rough guides:

• A standard 7-foot sofa: about 2 cubic yards on its own.
• A queen mattress: about 1 cubic yard, so a mattress plus box spring is close to the whole allowance.
• A standard dresser: a bit under 1 cubic yard.
• An armchair: most of a cubic yard.
• Contractor bags: several fill a cubic yard.

So a typical legal week is one sofa, or a mattress and box spring, or a dresser plus a few bags. A whole room is not a legal week.

How to measure your pile

Stack it as you would put it at the curb. Measure length, width and height in feet, multiply, and divide by 27. If the number is over 2, you are over the limit.

Example: a pile 6 feet long, 4 feet deep and 3 feet high is 72 cubic feet, divided by 27 is about 2.7 cubic yards. Over. Hold some back for next week, or book a pickup for the overflow.

Weight matters too. The reported over-limit threshold includes 1,000 pounds. A pile of plaster, tile or wet carpet can hit that well before it looks big.

Three Detroit jobs measured against the limit

An East Side inherited bungalow, living room and two bedrooms. Sofa, two armchairs, two beds, two dressers and boxes: roughly 8 cubic yards. At the curb, that is four separate weeks of carrying furniture out and setting it by 7 a.m., with a heir who may not live nearby. As one pickup, it is a half truck at $431.

A Grandmont Rosedale basement. A washer, an old chest freezer and a sectional nobody has sat on in years. The freezer alone takes a good share of a week's allowance, and someone has to get it up the stairs. Priced as items: $133 + $146 + $185 = $464, carried up.

A Corktown rehab. Plaster, lath and old trim from two rooms. Plaster is heavy, so the 1,000-pound threshold arrives before the 2-yard one, and every piece must be under 50 pounds. Construction debris is $120 on the list; a bigger tear-out is priced by truck tier from photos.

Planning around the limit

Spread it out. Four weeks of curb is up to 8 cubic yards for free, if you can carry it out and keep each week under 2.

Curb the light stuff, book the heavy stuff. Put chairs, a mattress or a bookcase out for the city; book a pickup for the basement freezer, the piano, the tires and the radiator.

Do not stack weeks. A pile that sits past 9 p.m. or grows into next week becomes a code problem rather than a collection. Outlier Media's reporting puts Detroit's dumping fines at $200 for a first offense under 5 cubic yards, rising to $1,000 for 10 cubic yards or more.

Suburbs are different. Dearborn, Warren and the SOCRRA cities have their own rules. Do not apply Detroit's limit outside Detroit.

When it is over the limit

A quarter truck is about two weeks of curb allowance. A half truck is about four. Carried out from inside, from any floor, with no stairs fee, and loaded straight from where it sits. Orders under $100 are billed at the $100 minimum.

The items that never count

Some things will not be taken at any volume, so they need another route regardless: tires ($22 each, $87 for four), concrete or masonry ($219 per quarter truck), shingles ($48 per bundle), and auto parts. A garage with a set of tires and a pile of old shingles, three bundles: $87 + $48 + $48 + $48 = $231. See 5 things bulk pickup won't take in Detroit, or get a price from a photo.

A simple way to decide

1. Measure the whole job, not this week's share of it.
2. Divide by 2. That is how many bulk weeks it takes.
3. Ask who carries it out each week, and whether anything is excluded or over 50 pounds.
4. If the answer is more than two weeks, or anything starts in the basement, compare that against one booked visit. Same-day pickup is available when you book by 4 PM.

Frequently asked questions