Mesa Bulk Junk and Trash Pickup

Mesa is the largest suburb in the United States, with over 495,000 people, it's larger than Minneapolis or even Miami. Not only is it packed with people but it also spans 133 square miles; that’s a lot for one sanitation department to cover. So guess what? They don’t cover it. At least not for bulk trash. There are no bulk trash services included with your waste disposal fees. If you can't cram it into your bin, then you're SOL, and you’ll have to fend for yourself. Mesa does make an effort to help out by offering bulk trash removal for a fee. But you still have to deal with the bureaucracy, which means limiting what you can dispose of and following their rules on how to prepare your trash for pick up. Basically, they are government run junk removal guys, sort like us but much less cool and with a lot more rules.

Bulk trash collection in Mesa is completely separate from the solid waste services you already pay for. It's a separate fee and you’ll need to call in advance to put yourself on their schedule. Their pick ups are pre-determined and limited so they work on a first come first served basis. Assuming you follow their preparation guidelines, you can expect a wait time of anywhere from a few days to a couple of weeks, before your pick up day.

Before scheduling make sure you know what they are willing to haul off; there are a lot of don'ts on their list, including appliances. If you need to get rid of any household appliances, even microwaves, you'll have to work with another program. A few other typical don'ts include, construction or landscape material, tires, light bulbs, plutonium, and other hazardous chemicals.

Mesa has created a highly sophisticated map to help you determine when a pick up might be scheduled. You can view the map here. If you study the map carefully, you’ll see pick up days can be Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday or Thursday depending on your location. I know that's a bit confusing, so in layman's terms, your pick up day could be any day. Got it?

Aside from unacceptable items, keep in mind how much crap you are trying to get rid of because Mesa limits the load size to about 8 full garbage bags. More than that, and you could be looking at multiple pick up charges.

The fee for 8 bags is $23.04, which is a pretty good deal if all you have are 8 garbage bags full of leaves and grass trimmings. But most likely you’re hoping to get rid of things they don’t want to take; just play it safe and get their approval when you schedule your pickup, or you will find yourself calling a real junk removal service to finish the job.