reuse

Getting Rid of Old Furniture in DC and Fairfax: Pickup Rules

DC allows seven bulk items per appointment, and Fairfax County gives five free special pickups a year. The rules, limits and reuse options in one place.

By DealsDMV Team · Oct 8, 2026 · 4 min read

If you live in the District, you can get up to seven bulk items collected per appointment, but only if you book through 311 first. In Fairfax County, county trash customers get five free special collections per fiscal year, but only about 10% of county residents are on county service. Both rules decide what you can do with an old sofa, a mattress or a refrigerator, so it helps to check them before the new piece arrives.

The easiest time to plan the old couch's exit is before the new one is on its way.

This guide pulls the official rules into one place, then covers the reuse options DC lists for items that still have life in them. Rules change, so confirm on the agency page before you set anything out.

District of Columbia: bulk trash by appointment

The Department of Public Works (DPW) page sets out the basics.

Question	Answer
How do I book?	Call 311 or go to 311.dc.gov before putting items out
Who is eligible?	Households that get DPW trash service, including single-family homes and buildings with three or fewer living units
Who is not?	Buildings with four or more units, condos, co-ops and commercial properties, which must use a private, licensed hauler
How many items?	No more than seven per appointment
When can I put items out?	Between 6:30 pm the night before and 6:00 am on the day of the appointment, at the place your trash and recycling are collected
What happens if I put them out early?	You could receive a sanitation violation ticket

Accepted examples on the page include household furniture, mattresses and box springs (which must be wrapped in plastic), bed frames, major appliances such as refrigerators with the doors removed, air conditioners with water and fluids drained, hot water heaters, large toys and rugs that are rolled and tied.

No appointment? Use Fort Totten

DPW also lists the Fort Totten Transfer Station at 4900 John McCormack Rd NE, where residents can take acceptable items without an appointment. The page lists hours of Tuesday to Friday, 10 am to 2 pm, and Saturday, 7 am to 2 pm. You need proof of residency, such as a DC driver's license, or an out-of-state photo ID plus a recent utility bill or a lease or deed. Passenger cars, vans, SUVs and pickups are accepted. Commercial tags, cargo vans and rental trucks over 15 feet are not. Hours can change, so check before you drive.

Fairfax County: five free special pickups

For Fairfax County Government trash customers, each household gets five free special collections per fiscal year, which runs from 1 July to 30 June. Different types of items are scheduled in advance.

Category	Examples from the county page
Freon items	Refrigerators, freezers, dehumidifiers and air conditioners
Bulk (non-metal, non-glass)	Furniture, lumber, doors, mattresses and box springs, carpet rolls up to 6 feet
Metal	Stoves, washers and dryers, metal shelving, bed frames, water heaters
Electronics	Computers, phones, cameras, TVs (broken electronics are not accepted)

Some key rules:

A pile can be up to 2 cubic yards, roughly 6 feet long, 3 feet wide and 3 feet high. Larger piles incur a charge.
Individual items must be under 6 feet long, and each pile should hold one type of material.
Book at specialpickup.fairfaxcounty.gov or by phone at 703-802-3322.
Set items out by 6 a.m. on the day, at the curb or street line, with 20 feet of clearance on all sides and nothing under utility wires or tree branches.

The catch is eligibility. The county page says only about 10% of residents receive trash and recycling service from the county. If you use a private hauler, you need to contact that company about special collections.

Reuse before you toss

DC's Reuse DC programs page does not describe a direct furniture pick-up or drop-off program, and says most of these services are run by grant-funded community groups. It lists, among others:

A Wider Circle, whose Bulk Donation Initiative collects beds, tables and other furniture from local hotels and universities for people in need. That is aimed at institutions, not household pickups.
Community Forklift, with a Home Essentials Program for low-income residents.
Friends of Anacostia Park, which holds reuse fairs where donated items are collected, fixed and given away.
Fix-It DC, where volunteers help residents repair broken items at community events.
ReThread DC, for clothing and textiles. We covered the scale of that problem in 17 million tons of textiles a year.

I did not check Maryland counties for this article, and rules vary a lot between them. Look up your own county's bulk pickup page.

Three questions before you put something out

Is it still usable? If it works and is clean, someone may want it. A quick listing or donation can beat the curb.
Does it hold a hazard? Refrigerators and air conditioners have refrigerants and need the proper pickup category. Items with lithium-ion batteries should never go in the trash. Our battery guide explains the steps.
Is it clean? An item you are passing on should not carry pests. If you are on the receiving end of a used couch, see the bed bug checks before you bring it home.

Buying the replacement

If you are replacing a fridge, remember that an older unit can cost real money to run. We covered it in the used fridge guide. To see what is in stock right now, browse Buy Now or the categories page, and read the help page for how DealsDMV handles pickup.

The bottom line

DC wants an appointment and a limit of seven items, and Fairfax gives five free special pickups if the county is your hauler. Check eligibility first, then use reuse groups for anything with life left in it.

If a neighbor is moving out this month, send them this before the truck arrives.

Sources

DC Department of Public Works: Bulk trash collection (dpw.dc.gov)
Fairfax County Public Works: Special pickup (fairfaxcounty.gov)
Reuse DC (DC Government): Programs (reuse.dc.gov)