Can you leave furniture on the curb in Detroit?

The short answer

In the City of Detroit you can leave furniture at the curb for weekly bulk pickup if it is out by 7 a.m. on your collection day, totals no more than 2 cubic yards for the week, and is not in front of a vacant lot. If it is not collected, it has to be off the curb by 9 p.m. Anything outside those rules can be treated as illegal dumping. If you would rather skip the curb, a flat pickup is $126 for a sofa, carried out from any floor.

Detroit's curb rules, one by one

Weekly, since June 3, 2024. Detroit used to collect bulk every other week. It now comes every week, on your regular collection day.

2 cubic yards. The weekly limit for bulk and renovation materials, which the city describes as about the size of two stoves. Outlier Media reported in 2022 that exceeding it (2 cubic yards or 1,000 pounds) can bring a $1,500 fine.

7 a.m. to 9 p.m. Out by 7 in the morning. If the truck missed it, bring it back in by 9 that night.

Your own frontage. Never in front of a vacant lot. On blocks with empty parcels, the temptation is to use the space next door. Do not.

Collection is split between two contracted haulers, one east of Woodward and one west, with Southwest Detroit south of I-94 on the east-side contract. Check the city's bulk page for your day.

A curb-day checklist

1. Confirm your day. Bulk comes on your regular collection day, and the contractor depends on which side of Woodward you live on.
2. Measure the pile. Length times width times height in feet, divided by 27. Keep it at 2 or under.
3. Check weight on renovation pieces. Each must be under 50 pounds. Old doors, cabinets and plaster bags often are not.
4. Pull out exclusions. Tires, shingles, auto parts, pipe and anything with fluid in it stay off the pile.
5. Set it out the night before or by 7 a.m. In front of your own house, clear of the sidewalk where you can.
6. Check at dusk. If anything is still there, bring it back in by 9 p.m. and try next week.

What will not be taken at the curb

Even within the volume limit, Detroit's bulk program excludes concrete, brick, asphalt, shingles, tires, auto parts, fluids, metal poles and pipes, and tree trunks. Renovation materials must be under 50 pounds each.

Furniture is generally what bulk pickup is for. The usual problems are not the item, they are the volume and the timing. See 5 things bulk pickup won't take in Detroit for the full list.

Alleys are not the curb

Plenty of Detroit and inner-ring blocks have alleys behind the houses, with detached garages opening onto them. That is where a lot of old furniture sits. It is also where a lot of illegal dumping happens, and an alley pile with your furniture in it is your problem.

Bulk goes at the front curb on collection day. Detroit's dumping fines, per Outlier Media's 2022 reporting, start at $200 for a first offense under 5 cubic yards and $500 for a repeat, and vehicles used for dumping can be impounded.

That matters most for a furniture piece stored in a detached garage off the alley, common in Hamtramck, Ferndale and older Detroit blocks. Getting it to the front curb means carrying it the length of the lot, past the house. If that is the hard part, a pickup from the garage is the cleaner route.

The suburbs

Every suburb has its own rules. What is documented:

• Dearborn: household bulk goes next to your cart and is picked up weekly by a separate truck by the end of trash day. Large or heavy items, carpet, some appliances and excessive quantities need a fee-based special pickup.
• Warren: bulk items next to the rubbish containers on trash day. Carpet must be cut, rolled and tied in 4-foot lengths.
• SOCRRA cities (Royal Oak, Ferndale, Berkley, Hazel Park, Troy, Birmingham and others): each city runs its own curbside collection.

For Livonia, Sterling Heights, Southfield, the Grosse Pointes, Canton and Downriver, check your own city's page before anything goes out.

Renters and two-flats

On a Detroit two-flat or a small apartment building, the curb in front belongs to everyone. If the upstairs tenant and the downstairs tenant both put a sofa out the same week, the property can easily go over 2 cubic yards. Talk to the owner or the neighbor before bulk day. Landlords clearing a unit between tenants usually skip the curb entirely, since a turnover rarely fits in one week's allowance.

Winter at the curb

From December through March, a couch set out on the curb ends up on a snowbank, or blocks the path the plow needs. A dresser in freezing rain is wet wood and glue. If your bulk day falls after a storm, wait a week or book a pickup for that item.

When to skip the curb

A small kitchen set of table and four chairs is $103 + $45 + $45 + $45 + $45 = $283. A sofa and recliner from the basement: $126 + $98 = $224.

Book a pickup when the furniture is in the basement or up a narrow flight, when you are over the week's 2 cubic yards, when you cannot be home at 7 a.m., or when it needs to go today. Book by 4 PM for same-day, and choose a 2-hour window. Get a price from a photo.

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