What Can and Can't I Put Out for Bulk Garbage Pickup in Stanwood?

The weather is nice in Stanwood, and if you’re like a lot of people, you’re thinking about spring cleaning. With spring cleaning comes bulk garbage removal. And that can be tougher than you might expect around here.

For one, Stanwood doesn’t do curbside bulk waste pickup like some large cities do. Waste Management picks up the bins every week. But that won’t help if you have old furniture, mattresses, or a lot of yard debris. Then there are special cases like appliances and electronics that require special handling.

So here’s what you need to know.

Stanwood's Clean Sweep Event 

Clean Sweep is a free drop-off day that lets Stanwood residents unload garbage, recycling, scrap metal, and other bulky items at a designated site. This year, it falls on Saturday, May 16. It’s a great program and a great deal if you can make it work. But there are a few catches.

The first is that you need to be within Stanwood city limits to participate. If you’re just outside the boundary, you would be out of luck. You also need to transport everything yourself. There’s no crew that will come to your home and no truck that will pull up to your curb. So if you have a heavy couch, a broken treadmill, or a garage full of stuff, you need a way to load it, haul it, and unload it at the site. And you need to do it all on one Saturday.

If you end up missing Clean Sweep, you then have to wait a year for the next one. 

What Regular Trash Service Won't Take 

Waste Management is the company that picks up bins from the curb every week in Stanwood. But, of course, you’ll never be able to fit large furniture or mattresses in bins. Construction debris is often too heavy, and yard waste often takes up too much space. And then you have electronics which have to be disposed of in very special ways, partly because of environmental concerns and partly because hard drives can continue to hold data for a long time even in terrible conditions. 

You can contact Waste Management directly to take care of these items. But that often comes with extra fees and specific scheduling requirements. Electronics and hazardous materials like paint, batteries, and motor oil often need to go to separate facilities entirely. 

The upshot is that if you’re doing any kind of serious cleanout, the standard options will leave a lot of gaps.

Where The Junkluggers Fills the Gap 

The Junkluggers of North Puget Sound works differently. You don’t have to wait for an annual event and you don’t have to load everything yourself. And we don’t check to see if you live in city limits.

Instead, you call 1-800-LUG-JUNK or book online, and a two-person crew shows up at your home within a two-hour window you choose. They walk through everything you want gone. That can include furniture, appliances, electronics, yard debris, and more. You’ll receive a guaranteed on-site estimate. And if you approve the price, they handle the lifting, loading, and hauling for you. Most residential jobs are handled in just one visit.

Same-day and next-day appointments are available, so you can go from cluttered to clear whenever you're ready. Not just on one Saturday in May.

The Junkluggers sorts every load after pickup. Usable items go to local charities. Recyclables go to certified facilities. Only what truly can't be rehomed gets disposed of. All applicable donation receipts will be provided for items we're able to donate on your behalf.

Clean Sweep Is Great (If It's Enough) 

If you have a small amount of stuff and you can get it to the drop-off site in May, do it. Clean Sweep is a good program and it’s worth taking advantage of. 

But if your cleanup is bigger than what fits in the back of a truck, or if you'd rather not spend your Saturday hauling heavy items across town, or if your timing just doesn't line up with one day a year, The Junkluggers can fill the gap.

The Junkluggers of North Puget Sound serves Stanwood, Everett, Marysville, Lake Stevens, Snohomish, and surrounding communities. Call 1-800-LUG-JUNK or book your free on-site estimate online to get started today. 

When in doubt, we'll lug it out®.