What Can't Go on the Truck, and Where It Goes Instead

A junk removal crew can take a surprising amount: couches, appliances, mattresses, old furniture, a basement's worth of boxes. But nearly every cleanout turns up a few things that cannot ride on the truck. It is better to know what they are before the day, so the crew is not stepping around a shelf of cans at the end of a long job.

The list of what we cannot take

JunkDoctors does not accept any of the following:

• Wet paint
• Chemicals
• Fuel and gasoline
• Propane tanks
• Pesticides
• Asbestos
• Medical waste
• Unknown liquids

Most of these are easy to spot. The one that catches people is the last: any container whose contents you cannot identify. An unlabeled can on the back of a garage shelf counts, and so does a jar of something that has been sitting for years. If you cannot say what it is, treat it as a not-accepted item.

Paint is the other one that surprises people. A garage often has a dozen old cans, and the ones with wet paint in them are on the list. When you send photos, include the shelf.

Why the list exists

These materials need special handling. A truck that carries a living room's worth of furniture and a crew that is there to lift and load are not set up for fuel, pesticides or asbestos, and mixing them into a load of household items creates problems for everyone downstream. The list is short on purpose, and it is the same every time.

It also explains why an estimate comes with questions. When we know what is on the shelves in advance, we can plan the truck, the order of loading and the timing, and the price you hear on the phone stays close to the price on site. Surprises are what slow a job down, and a photo of the garage wall costs you nothing.

Where those items go instead

For hazardous materials, check with your town or county. Municipalities and counties set their own rules about what residents can bring in and when, and the people who answer that line will know what applies where you live. We are not the right source for those rules, so we will not guess at them here.

Please do not combine containers or open anything you cannot identify to see what it is. Leave things closed and as you found them, and group them in one spot so they are easy to keep apart from the load.

Walk the house before the estimate and make three groups: fine for the truck, not accepted, and not sure. Check the places that collect odd things: garage shelves, the workbench, cabinets under sinks, the shed, the corners of the attic and the utility area of the basement. Photograph the not-sure group and mention it when you call. Then you will know what to set aside before the crew arrives, and the load will go faster.

This matters most when many hands are involved: an estate with several siblings, a landlord turning over a unit, or an agent preparing a listing. One person should own the not-accepted shelf, so nobody assumes someone else dealt with it.

What does go, and where it ends up

The rest of the house is a different story. We take furniture, appliances, refrigerators, mattresses, TVs, electronics, gym equipment, yard debris and most of what fills a garage or a basement. For pianos, spinets, consoles, studio uprights and full uprights are fine. Baby grand and grand pianos are not something we remove.

Large, awkward things are fine too. Treadmills, trampolines, swing sets and sheds all come out of backyards and basements with a crew and the right plan for the route out. Describe the size and the path when you call, and say whether anything needs to be taken apart first.

We donate and recycle whenever possible. Furniture in good shape, working appliances and usable household goods have a better outcome than a landfill, and the crew sorts as it loads. If there is something you want to see go to a particular place, mention it when you call.

JunkDoctors is fully licensed and insured. NJDEP 37709 is printed on the truck wrap, and our site lists an A901 license. The crews are in-house employees rather than subcontractors. If any company arrives and you cannot tell who it is or what it is licensed for, ask before anything is loaded.

If you are not sure whether something is on the list, send a photo or call 973-336-8083 and ask before cleanout day. We would rather answer a question at the estimate than find a surprise on the shelf.