Bulk trash pickup rules in Garland, Mesquite, Richardson, Addison and Farmers Branch

Each city sets its own limits, which matters most if you have just moved or own rentals in more than one. Dallas runs a separate monthly program, covered in our guide to Dallas bulk trash pickup.

One rule holds everywhere: paint, pool chemicals and other household hazardous waste never go in a bulk pile. Residents of Dallas and other member cities, these five among them, can take them free to the Dallas County Home Chemical Collection Center at 11234 Plano Rd; our guide to household hazardous waste goes item by item.

Garland bulk trash pickup: weekly, with a 40-pound limit

Garland collects brush and bulky goods every week on your green-cart trash day. Bulky items go out after 6 p.m. the evening before and by 7 a.m., between the sidewalk and the curb, with brush, bulky items, appliances and bagged leaves in separate piles at least 4 feet apart; limbs can go out any day.

The catch is weight: no item over 40 pounds is collected, bags and boxes included, and after rain crews may leave items to dry. Garland also lists refrigerators, washers and dryers as curbside items, which sits awkwardly with that limit, so check with the city before setting out an appliance. Remodeling debris from your own home can go out four times a calendar year; roofing, concrete, brick, rock, dirt, pallets and tires never can.

Residents can also take bulky waste free to the Transfer Station at 1426 Commerce St, which turns away trailers and box trucks, or to the Hinton Landfill in Rowlett, with a license and a recent utility bill. A crew fits what the weight rule stops: a sleeper sofa, a loaded dresser, a treadmill.

Mesquite bulk trash pickup: weekly, capped at 8 cubic yards

Mesquite collects large brush and bulky items weekly, Monday to Friday depending on your area. Set them at the front curb, not the alley, by 7:30 a.m. and no earlier than 24 hours before collection day. A bulky pile may not exceed 8 cubic yards, a space about 5 feet tall, 4 feet deep and 11 feet long; brush is exempt from both limits.

Setting bulk out early costs a $6 administrative fee, and going over the cap $20. Bricks, concrete, rocks, dirt, paint, oils and hazardous containers are never collected. Appliances are picked up free on Wednesdays, from the alley or the front curb, if you book by phone or in the myMesquite app beforehand.

For bigger loads, the city's paid Cost Plus collection costs $200 below a 15-yard half load and $400 above it, and trash customers get one free visit a month to the convenience center at 3550 Lawson Rd. A crew makes sense when the items are still inside a rental that has to turn over.

Richardson bulky item pickup: free, but only by request

Richardson's own pages disagree on the request deadline — midnight the night before on one, at least 24 hours ahead on its storm-cleanup page — so request a day early to be safe.

Brush and Bulky Item Collection, or BABIC, is free but by request only, for items generally over 50 pounds and for brush from your own property, and the city asks residents to keep to eight requests a year. Request it through the MyRichardson app, by phone or online before anything goes out, and set it out by 7 a.m. on the parkway near the curb; setting out without a request brings a warning, then a citation.

BABIC takes furniture, toilets, appliances including refrigerators, TVs and mattresses. It does not take roofing, tile, hazardous waste, concrete, dirt, remodeling debris, glass, gas cylinders or tires, and construction and remodeling debris has to go through a city-franchised or permitted hauler, so check that before hiring anyone for a remodel.

Residents can also drop off free twice a month at the North Texas Municipal Water District's Lookout Drive Transfer Station, 1601 E. Lookout Dr, with a city utility bill showing solid-waste service and a Texas driver's license at the same address; remodeling and hazardous waste are refused. A crew helps when the requests run out or everything is still inside.

Addison bulk trash: by request, single-family homes only

Addison staff collect bulk items and brush only from single-family homes, by request through the Town's online form. Set items at the curb or in the alley first, then submit the request and say where they are; staff won't enter the property, so anything in a yard or driveway stays. Allow at least 48 business hours, counted Monday to Thursday, 6 a.m. to 4:30 p.m.; you can't book a specific day.

Water heaters, mattresses, furniture, appliances without refrigerant, cardboard and brush under 6 feet qualify; propane tanks, refrigerant appliances, concrete, asphalt, brick, landscaping rock, tile flooring, soil and tires don't. Paint, batteries and light bulbs can go out in a box labeled as hazardous waste. The Town publishes no size limit or fee.

Apartments and businesses are outside the program and contract with private haulers, so an apartment resident's options are the community's own rules or a paid service such as apartment move-out junk removal. The Town's household hazardous waste program does cover apartment residents.

Farmers Branch bulk trash: the first full week of the month

The Farmers Branch Green Grabber collects bulk trash once a month, in the first full work week, on your gray-cart day, and brush in the other weeks. Items go to the curb, never the alley, no earlier than 6 p.m. the day before and by 7 a.m., no longer than 8 feet and 3 feet from mailboxes, trees and poles.

Furniture, mattresses, water heaters and appliances without Freon are accepted; refrigerators and A/C units only after a certified technician removes the Freon, and loose flooring, sheetrock and tile must be in a demolition bag. Tires, concrete, rocks, dirt, electronics, gas cylinders and motor oil are refused. One city page also says items over 40 pounds won't be collected while listing furniture as accepted, so check before setting out something heavy.

Tires, car batteries, glass, mirrors and motor oil go to the weekly Special Waste Pickup, usually on Wednesday, if you call by noon Tuesday, and residents can take trash and debris free to the city-owned Camelot Landfill in Lewisville with proof of residency. With bulk collected monthly, a crew is mostly about timing.

Brush pickup schedules and storm season

Brush runs on its own clock. Garland takes it weekly and lets limbs go out any day, Mesquite exempts it from its 24-hour and 8-yard rules, and Farmers Branch collects it in the three weeks without bulk and mulches clean piles; trash mixed into one sends the whole pile to the landfill.

After a storm the length rules still apply, from 3 to 7 feet in Garland to under 6 feet in Addison, and wet brush is heavy. When a storm leaves more than the curb can take, brush and storm debris removal clears what is on the ground.