5 things Indianapolis bulk pickup will not take

First, check your own address

Indianapolis households are not all served by the same trash hauler, so the bulk-item rules — what is accepted, how many pieces, whether you must schedule, whether your set-out point is the curb or the alley — genuinely differ from one street to the next.

Look up the rules for your service address before you put anything out. What follows is the list of categories that are commonly excluded whoever serves you, and what to do with each instead.

1. Mattresses and box springs

Sometimes accepted, frequently not, and where they are accepted there is usually a condition attached: the mattress must be fully bagged or wrapped in plastic. An unbagged mattress where bagging is required is simply left behind, and then it sits out through an Indiana rain week and becomes twice the object it was.

Apartment complexes are stricter still. Buildings around Castleton, Lawrence and the 465 ring almost universally ban mattresses from the dumpster pad, because one mattress fills a container and because of bedbug risk.

Flat alternative: twin $82, full $94, queen $103, king $114, box spring $92, mattress and box spring set $143. A queen set is $143 carried down from the bedroom.

2. Anything containing refrigerant

Refrigerators, freezers, window and portable air conditioners, dehumidifiers and outdoor condenser units. These are excluded nearly everywhere, and it is not a local policy choice — federal rules require certified recovery of the refrigerant before the metal can be recycled.

This is the single most common mistake in the older neighborhoods. A garage fridge gets wheeled to the alley in Irvington or Broad Ripple, does not get collected, and within two days has been partly stripped for its copper and steel, which makes it both a hazard and a harder thing to remove.

Flat alternative: standard refrigerator $164, side-by-side or french door $183, mini fridge $115, chest freezer $146, upright freezer $149, large window AC $109, outdoor condenser $115. Recovery is included, never a surcharge.

3. Televisions and computer equipment

Indiana restricts televisions and computer equipment from household waste, so these are not curb items regardless of hauler. Check the current state and county guidance for the detail.

The set that causes the most trouble here is the old tube or projection television. It is too heavy for one person, too big for a sedan, and often excluded from collection events that cap televisions per household. So it sits in the basement of a Nora split-level or the garage of a Beech Grove ranch, year after year.

Flat alternative: TV under 42 inches $62, 42 to 65 inches $68, 65 inches and up $73, computer monitor $58, box of electronics $77. A TV and its stand is $68 + $96 = $164.

4. Renovation and construction debris

Bulk pickup is for household bulky waste, not for the results of a project. Drywall, plaster and lath, old cabinets, torn-out flooring, roofing, tile, brick and concrete are commonly excluded, and quantity limits catch people out even where material is technically allowed.

This is a live issue across the older housing stock. Rehab work in Fountain Square, Bates-Hendricks, Holy Cross and the near northside produces enormous volumes of plaster and lath, which is heavy, dusty and nothing like a sofa in how it has to be handled.

Flat alternative: construction debris $120, concrete and masonry debris $219 per quarter truck, contractor bag $41, 10 bags of debris $132, 20 bags $259. For a whole project, the truck ladder: 1/4 $241 up to full $732.

5. Household hazardous waste, tires and a few others

Never in the bulk stream, anywhere:

• Paint, stain, solvents and thinners.
• Pesticides, herbicides and lawn chemicals.
• Motor oil, antifreeze, fuel and gas cans.
• Propane cylinders and car or mower batteries.
• Tires, which almost always have their own separate route and often a per-tire fee.
• Medical sharps and expired medication.
• Asbestos — common in pre-war Indianapolis houses as wrapped insulation on old boiler pipes and ducts.

These go to a county household hazardous waste drop-off; check the current options where you live. Asbestos is an abatement contractor's job and must not be disturbed or bagged by anyone else.

What bulk pickup is actually good for

It is worth saying, because the list above makes it sound useless. Where your address permits it, bulk set-out handles ordinary furniture well: a dresser, a bookcase, a dining set, a sofa in dry weather. It is free or low cost and you should use it for those.

It works best when three things are true. The item is already outside or you can move it alone. You can set it out the evening before collection rather than days ahead. And the forecast is dry — in this climate that third one decides more outcomes than the first two.

Mixing it: the practical approach

Most Indianapolis households end up splitting the job, and that is the sensible answer.

Put the ordinary furniture out on your scheduled bulk day. Book one pickup for the excluded pile — the mattress, the garage fridge, the projection TV, the bags of plaster from the bathroom project. Take the paint and the gas can to a county drop-off yourself.

A representative excluded pile from one house: queen mattress $103 + standard refrigerator $164 + TV 42-65 inch $68 = $335. Against the quarter-load rate of $241, so you would take the $241 and have the whole lot gone in one stop.

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