Who Takes Your Old Stuff for Free?

Before you pay anyone to haul something away, check this. A surprising amount of household junk has a free home — but the rules are scattered across a dozen retailer and charity policies that all contradict each other. Here they are in one place.

The short version: retailers usually take back the category they sell, often only when you're buying a replacement. Charities want things they can resell, which rules out anything soft, stained, or slept on. And your city almost certainly runs a free bulk pickup you've never used.

The matrix

✅ = generally yes · ⚠️ = conditional, check first · ❌ = generally no

Item	Goodwill	Salvation Army	Habitat ReStore	Big-box retailer	City bulk pickup
Mattress	❌	⚠️	⚠️	⚠️ with delivery	⚠️ often wrapped
Couch / sofa	⚠️ clean only	✅ good condition	✅	❌	✅
Other furniture	⚠️	✅	✅	❌	✅
TV	❌	❌	❌	⚠️ Best Buy, fees vary	❌ usually banned
Electronics / e-waste	⚠️ working only	⚠️	⚠️	✅ Best Buy, Staples	❌ usually banned
Fridge / freezer	❌	❌	⚠️	✅ with delivery	⚠️ Freon rules
Microwave	⚠️ working	⚠️ working	⚠️	⚠️ scrap metal yard	⚠️
Batteries	❌	❌	❌	✅ Home Depot, Lowe's, Staples	❌ hazardous
Paint	❌	❌	✅ ReStore often takes usable	⚠️ PaintCare states	❌ HHW day only
Motor oil	❌	❌	❌	✅ most auto parts stores	❌ hazardous
Tires	❌	❌	❌	⚠️ fee at tire shops	❌ usually banned
CFL / fluorescent bulbs	❌	❌	❌	✅ Home Depot, Lowe's	❌ hazardous
Propane tank	❌	❌	❌	✅ exchange cages	❌ never bin it
Concrete / clean fill	❌	❌	❌	❌	⚠️ often free at landfill

What the retailers actually do

Best Buy — the main e-waste option

Best Buy runs the most usable national electronics takeback, but it is no longer uniformly free and the rules are unusually specific:

Free in-store drop-off in California, Connecticut and Hawaii — state e-waste laws cover the cost.
$29.99 drop-off fee for TVs 50" and under in most other states. In Pennsylvania, Wisconsin and Michigan you get a $30 gift card back, which makes it effectively free if you shop there anyway.
Limit of two TVs per household per day.
$49.99 haul-away from your home when Geek Squad or Best Buy delivers a replacement.
$199.99 standalone home pickup for up to two large items plus unlimited small ones — rarely worth it against a $34 trip to the transfer station.

Fees and eligible states change. Confirm on Best Buy's recycling page before you drive over.

Home Depot and Lowe's

Both take rechargeable batteries and CFL bulbs free at in-store collection bins near the entrance — one of the genuinely easy wins on this page. Both will also haul away an old appliance free when they deliver the replacement, which is almost always the cheapest way to get rid of a fridge or washer. They do not accept walk-in appliances.

Auto parts stores

AutoZone, O'Reilly, Advance and NAPA accept used motor oil, oil filters and car batteries free, usually up to five gallons per visit. Car batteries often earn you a small core refund. This is the most reliably free takeback in the whole list.

Staples

Takes small electronics, ink cartridges and batteries free. No TVs, no appliances.

What the charities actually do

The rule that explains almost every charity refusal: they have to be able to resell it. If it can't go on a shop floor and sell, it costs them money to dispose of, so they say no.

Goodwill

Does not take mattresses, box springs or bed frames — the single most common question we see, and the answer is no at essentially every location. Health regulations plus bed-bug risk. A handful of locations accept a mattress still sealed in its original plastic. Goodwill does take clean upholstered furniture at many locations, but policies vary a lot by region.

Salvation Army

Sometimes takes mattresses in genuinely good condition, and unlike Goodwill it picks up furniture from your home free in most areas. But many local chapters have stopped taking mattresses entirely over bed bugs. This is chapter-by-chapter — call first, and don't rely on what a national page says.

Habitat for Humanity ReStore

The most overlooked option. ReStore wants furniture, appliances, building materials, cabinets, doors, fixtures and usable paint. If you're clearing a renovation, this is usually the right first call. Most ReStores collect large items free. Mattresses are generally declined.

Don't skip your city's free bulk pickup

Most US municipalities run a free bulk or "large item" collection — commonly two to four pickups a year, sometimes twelve. It is scheduled, not automatic: you book a date and put the item at the curb the night before. It covers furniture, mattresses and general bulky junk, and it costs nothing.

This is the option people most often don't know exists, and it's frequently the difference between $0 and a $150 removal fee. Search your city name plus "bulk item pickup," or call 311.

Things you genuinely can't just bin

Not merely discouraged — restricted in most of the country, with fines in some states:

Anything with refrigerant — fridges, freezers, air conditioners, dehumidifiers. Federal law requires certified refrigerant recovery before disposal.
Tires — banned from most landfills; expect a per-tire fee instead.
Paint (liquid) — must be dried out or taken to household hazardous waste.
Lithium batteries — a genuine fire risk in collection trucks, and increasingly the reason for waste-facility fires.
Propane tanks — never in a bin. Exchange cages take them free.
Electronics — landfill-banned in around half of US states.

The order to try things

Retailer takeback — free, and free-est when you're replacing the item anyway.
Charity pickup — free, and Salvation Army and ReStore will come to you.
City bulk pickup — free, just needs booking ahead.
Drive it to the transfer station yourself — typically $15–50 for a car or pickup load.
Pay for removal — $75–200 for a single item. Worth it for a piano, a hot tub, or anything down two flights of stairs. Not worth it for a single mattress you could drop off for $20.

Why you can trust this page: we don't run a junk removal service. Almost every other site answering this question does, which is why they rarely mention that driving it to the dump yourself is usually cheapest. We'll tell you when paying someone is worth it — and when it plainly isn't.

Policies and fees vary by location and change frequently. Every ⚠️ above means call your local branch — national policies and local practice differ constantly, especially for mattresses and upholstered furniture. Last verified August 2026.