Junk removal in Milwaukie, OR

One couch, one weekend in June

Milwaukie runs a free curbside bulky pickup, and it is smaller than people remember. Bulky Waste Day happens once a year, on the second and third Saturdays of June. It is for single-family homes inside the city limits with active garbage service, so apartments and businesses are out.

The set-out limit is the equivalent of five garbage bags or one couch. Bundles have to be under 30 pounds and under 6 feet. Refrigerators, anything with freon, electronics and construction debris are not accepted at all. Miss the June weekend and the city sends you to your hauler, Waste Management, Hoodview Disposal or Clackamas Garbage depending on your street, for a paid pickup.

That is the whole program. A garage, a basement, a fridge, a move-out in October: that is where we come in.

A Milwaukie address is not always Milwaukie

Milwaukie has been an incorporated city since 1903. Oak Grove, right next door, is unincorporated Clackamas County and shares Milwaukie’s ZIP codes. A lot of people on that side of the line assume the June pickup covers them. It does not.

What Oak Grove gets instead is the county version: call your hauler, pay a base fee of $5 to $40 plus a weight charge, an hourly charge if the item is hard to reach, and $30 more for anything with coolant. It is a phone call, a wait and a bill you cannot predict.

Same truck, same price, either side of the line.

What Milwaukie homes hand us

Milwaukie is mostly older single-family housing, and each part of town fills a truck differently.

Ardenwald and Johnson Creek. Mostly mid-century ranches and older bungalows with basements and detached garages that have been collecting since a previous owner. Long-tenure cleanouts live here: a parent’s house, decades of tools and boxes, room by room.

Historic Milwaukie and downtown. Older bungalows on the blocks around downtown. Downtown parking is timed and the city fines you for parking twice on the same block, so we pick the truck’s spot before we arrive. Prices jumped after the Orange Line opened in 2015, and remodel debris is a lot of what we carry out here.

Island Station. Craftsman houses near the river and hillside streets above them. Steep drives, narrow streets and stairs are the norm; stairs beyond one flight add $25 a flight.

Lake Road. Older ranches mixed with condos and townhomes. Condo jobs mean elevators, loading rules and a manager who wants a time, and 2-hour windows fit that.

Oak Grove. Long lots, gravel drives, sheds that were never emptied. We carry from wherever it sits, and the price holds as long as the truck can get within 100 feet.

What we take is the same in every neighborhood, as are the services we run.

Where the load goes and what it costs

Everything from Milwaukie goes to Metro South Station at 2001 Washington St in Oregon City, open to the public 8am to 5pm daily. Metro charges a $51 minimum on garbage loads and $176.70 a ton above 240 pounds, plus a fee per appliance with coolant. That is built into our fridge price, not added after.

Metro South takes up to 7 TVs, monitors and computers per person per day at no charge. Metro’s free mattress and box spring drop, up to 4 per customer per day, is at Metro Central in Portland, so a mattress rides there instead. We pass both on: no disposal surcharge on either, just the handling price on the list. A bedroom set is priced as furniture, not as a problem. Across the river, Oregon City gets the same deal.

Prices are by how much of the truck you fill, the same in Milwaukie as everywhere we go. The minimum pickup is $99 for 2 cubic yards, about a couch and a chair. A quarter truck is $189, a half is $369, three-quarters is $549 and a full 16 cubic yard truck is $739. Full price ladder and item prices.

Milwaukie questions

Is Bulky Waste Day enough to clear a garage? No. One couch or five bags, once a year. A garage is usually a half truck or more, any week of the year.

Do Oak Grove addresses pay more? No. Oak Grove gets the same truck-volume price as inside the city, and a long gravel drive does not change it as long as we can reach within 100 feet.

Can you take the fridge the city would not? Yes. A refrigerator or freezer is $129 with the coolant fee included. Add a TV to the same trip and it is $49 on top.

How soon can you get to Milwaukie? Often the same day, otherwise usually the next. Send a photo to (360) 702-7327 and we will tell you the truck size before you book, or book online and save $20.