Where Your Junk Goes After We Haul It Away

We sort every load we haul. Usable items go to local charities, recyclables get recycled, and what's left goes to the landfill. Some items, like refrigerators and electronics, come with their own rules for how they're handled, and a few things we don't take at all. Here's what happens to your stuff after it leaves the driveway.

Usable furniture and household goods

A lot of what comes out of a garage, an estate or a storage unit still has life in it: dressers, tables, chairs, kitchenware, lamps that work. Those go to local charities. If there's something you especially want to see donated, tell us while we're loading.

Clothes are their own case. Denton's blue recycling cart doesn't take clothing, shoes or textiles, and the city says to take gently used items to a donation center.

Recycling metal and the rest

Metal turns up in a lot of our jobs: gutters and flashing from remodels, playset frames, shed hardware, store racking. Clean metal gets recycled.

Most of that can't go in your blue cart. The City of Denton's curbside program takes cans, cardboard, paper, plastic bottles and jugs, glass bottles and jars, and cartons. It doesn't take scrap metal, chain, wire, hoses or hangers, lumber, furniture or electronics, and recyclables should go in loose, clean and dry, not bagged.

Refrigerators, freezers and window units

Anything that holds refrigerant is regulated. Under EPA rules issued under Section 608 of the Clean Air Act, household refrigerators, freezers and window air conditioners have special safe-disposal requirements. The final person in the disposal chain, such as a scrap metal recycler or landfill owner, is responsible for making sure the refrigerant is recovered before final disposal.

The EPA also notes that older appliances may contain mercury, contaminated oils or PCBs, and that almost all the materials in a refrigerator or freezer can be recycled, from the metal cabinet to the refrigerant and oil in the compressor to the blowing agent in the foam. It warns that appliances left at the curb might be landfilled or disposed of unsafely. Our appliance removal service takes fridges, washers, dryers and stoves out of the house or garage for you.

Electronics

Texas law requires TV and computer manufacturers to offer recycling programs to consumers, through the Texas Recycles Computers and Texas Recycles TVs programs. For computers, manufacturers only have to take back their own brands, and only personal and home business computers.

One part is on you, not the recycler. The state's rules make consumers responsible for any information left on a computer that gets collected, recycled or reused, so erase your data before it leaves the house. City of Denton residents can also take electronics to the city's Home Chemical Collection facility at 1527 S. Mayhill Rd., Building 300. Devices with screens carry a handling fee there.

What goes to the landfill

Whatever can't be donated or recycled goes to a landfill. The Texas Commission on Environmental Quality separates Type I landfill units, which take all types of municipal solid waste, from Type IV units, which are limited to brush, construction and demolition waste, and rubbish. A single facility can have both.

If you're hauling a load yourself, the City of Denton Landfill is at 1527 S. Mayhill Rd. As of September 2026, it doesn't accept liquids (including paint), batteries, tires, or hazardous, biohazardous or radioactive waste, and every load has to be tarped or tied down.

What we don't take, and where it can go

We don't haul hazardous waste: paints, chemicals, fuel and oils. City of Denton residents can use the city's Home Chemical Collection, which takes paint, automotive fluids, batteries, pool chemicals and used motor oil, among other things. As of September 2026, chemicals need to be in their original labeled containers, and the service is for City of Denton residents only.

We also can't take cement or concrete. Mattresses with severe biohazard contamination or active bed bugs stay behind too, for health and safety.

Not sure what's what in a mixed pile? Send photos and ask. General junk removal covers most household loads, and furniture removal handles the big pieces. Either way, we sweep up before we leave.

Customers notice the sorting: