Home Cleanout Dumpsters in Atlanta, GA

Why a cleanout needs its own dumpster

Dragging a cleanout to the curb a few bags at a time, or making trip after trip to a disposal facility, drains your weekends. The City of Atlanta's bulk service is limited: up to eight cubic yards of junk at the curb, only four cubic yards of your own building material, bulk collections scheduled in advance, and 12 call-in pickups a year before the City charges $336.38 for each extra truck load (§130-40(c), (d); §130-84(e)(3)). Around Atlanta it is no easier — East Point gives single-family residents two free bulk pick-ups a year, and Duluth's drop-off dumpsters need a City Dumpster Card. A roll-off in the driveway changes the rhythm: you work continuously, toss as you go, and we haul it away in one pickup.

Match the size to the house

For a garage or attic cleanout, a 10 or 15 yard is usually plenty; a 15 also handles a multi-room cleanout or a move. A whole-home cleanout is usually a 20 yard, and a 30 yard when there is a lot to clear or it is an estate cleanout. The biggest estate and property cleanouts can call for a 40. A single-room cleanout fills about 10 yards. Furniture is bulky and light, so volume usually decides a cleanout before weight does — and if you are between two sizes, the larger one is typically the safer bet. The sizing guide has the full table.

Plan, sort and work room by room

Walk the house first and list the spaces you are tackling. Then run every item through three buckets — keep, donate, toss — before anything goes in the bin; having the container on site makes the toss decision fast, because there is no pile of "maybe" items building up in the yard. Finish one space before moving to the next, starting with the one that bothers you most, often the garage.

• Garage and storage: old tools, broken equipment, leftover building materials.
• Kitchen: cabinets and cookware you no longer use — refrigerated appliances go elsewhere (below).
• Bedrooms and closets: furniture, mattresses, clothing, boxes of forgotten items.
• Attic: stored boxes, holiday decorations, keepsakes to sort.
• Yard: brush, old fencing, patio furniture — brush in its own load where you can.

Time it to the job

Most rentals include a standard 7-day rental period, which covers most single-house cleanouts. Need longer? Call before your scheduled pickup and we can often extend for an additional daily or weekly rate, or swap a full box for an empty one. Finish early and we arrange an earlier pickup. You do not need to be home for delivery or pickup, as long as we have clear placement instructions and the area is clear — useful when you are clearing a family member's home from out of town.

What cleanout junk can go in

Most household cleanout material is fine for a roll-off: furniture of every kind, mattresses, boxes and general junk, cardboard, old flooring and carpet, cabinets, small non-hazardous appliances and yard debris. Load smart: break down bulky items, spread the weight evenly rather than piling it at one end, fill the gaps with smaller pieces, and keep the load level with or below the top rim so the container is safe to transport. If the cleanout turns into a remodel — cabinets coming off the walls, flooring coming up — tell us, because household junk and construction debris go to different facilities, and Georgia requires each load to go to a facility authorized for that waste type (EPD Rule 391-3-4-.06(3)(a)7).

Set these aside — and where they go

A few things turn up in every cleanout that cannot go in the box. Fridges, freezers and A/C units need their refrigerant recovered first under federal rules; our junk removal crew takes appliances with Freon properly removed. Paint: latex paint must be solidified before it goes in the trash, and liquid paint never goes in the garbage can. Pesticides, solvents and other household chemicals: Atlanta has no household hazardous waste program and points residents to CHaRM at 1110 Hill St SE, by appointment only (404-600-6386). Car batteries are banned at every Georgia disposal facility. Tires are on our no list; CHaRM takes them among its hard-to-recycle items. Propane tanks and gas cylinders stay out too. The what-goes-in guide has the full list.

Driveways, HOAs and the street

We found no City of Atlanta permit, setback or time-limit rule for a roll-off on your own driveway. If your home is in an HOA, though, its rules can limit how long a dumpster stays visible or where it sits, so check before delivery day and let us know about any limited access. A few cities do set limits: in Norcross a cleanout roll-off not tied to an active building permit is limited to four weeks in a calendar year (§36-207(b)), and in College Park a roll-off may stay on site without a permanent enclosure for up to 30 days unless extended (§8-202(c)).

The street is a different matter. In an Atlanta street, sidewalk or right-of-way you need an ATLDOT dumpster permit under §138-61 — $20.00 plus $10.00 a day for up to 100 feet — and the City issues one only when the box cannot fit on private property. In Sandy Springs containers may not sit on the right-of-way at all (§46-24(6)), and on a state route we found no GDOT permit path. For a cleanout, the driveway is almost always the answer. The permit guide has every city we list.

Delivery day — or let us do the lifting

Our containers are driveway-friendly, and many customers put plywood boards beneath the wheels for extra protection. Give us a clear, flat spot with about 60 feet of access for the truck and 25 feet of overhead clearance, move cars out of the way, and if you will not be there, mark the spot. If you would rather not lift a thing, ask about our junk removal service, where our crew handles the loading, hauling and disposal and recycles or donates usable items whenever possible. Call (470) 407-6185, 24 hours a day, 7 days a week, and ask about same-day delivery if the cleanout is already under way — it is available in many Atlanta-area service locations, based on availability.