Before you pay anyone to haul something, it is worth knowing what the curb will take for nothing. This page is the plain-language version, checked against the city and county pages linked at the bottom in September 2026; the schedules and limits are theirs and change from time to time.
The metro has more collectors than most: the city of Charleston, Charleston County's eight convenience centers, and separate programs in Mount Pleasant, North Charleston, Summerville and the Berkeley and Dorchester county areas. The rule that decides most jobs is the same everywhere, though: construction debris, hazardous items and anything in the volume of a rental turnover or an estate are not a curbside pickup.
What curbside collection usually takes
- Household garbage in the green cart, once a week, with the lid closed and nothing hanging over the side.
- Trash, once a week on its own day inside the city: furniture and bulk items at the curb, old appliances and large metal items with water heaters drained and refrigerator doors removed or secured.
- Yard waste on the same trash day: leaves and clippings in brown paper bags, limbs cut to four-foot lengths and no more than four inches thick, stacked clear of obstructions.
What it usually will not take
- Debris from a remodel or a teardown: drywall, tile, shingles, lumber, concrete. The county landfill does not even accept it from haulers; it goes to a private facility.
- Paint, solvents, fuel, batteries, pesticides and electronics, which the county takes at its convenience centers rather than at the curb.
- Anything left outside the cart that is not on the trash-day list, and anything that arrives after the truck has passed.
- The volume from a business, a rental turnover or an estate, which a weekly truck is not sized for.
- Whole sheds, hot tubs, fence runs and playsets that have not been taken apart.
Where a junk crew fits in Charleston
Everything on the second list, plus anything that has to leave today, anything that cannot get down a staircase or out a gate on its own, and anything outside the city's collection area. The county's centers take mattresses, furniture and carpet from residents who can drive them over with an ID and a utility bill; a crew is for the loads that will not fit a car or a weekend. When part of your pile is something the city would take free on the next trash day, the quote says so.
After a storm
After Ian in 2022 the city and county ran vegetation passes for weeks, with cut limbs stacked at the curb, and after every fall king tide the same low streets put out ruined furniture and flooring. The passes are for vegetation; flood-damaged contents, fence panels, roofing and dock lumber usually fall outside them, and anything that has to move before the trucks come round is a crew job.
Official pages
The links under Local resources on the home page go to the city's garbage and trash pages and to the county's Environmental Management pages, which list the convenience centers, the landfill hours and the household hazardous waste drop-off rules.
Questions we get about this
How do I get the city of Charleston to pick up a couch?
Put it at the curb on your trash day, which comes once a week inside the city limits, clear of the cart and any obstructions. The CHS Trashtracker on the city site gives the day for your address. If the couch cannot get to the curb, or the day is too far off, that is the same-day job a crew does.
Does the city collect old refrigerators?
Inside the city, yes: old appliances are collected on trash day once the doors are removed or secured, and a water heater once it is drained. Outside the city, the town or county program decides. A crew handles the carry, the refrigerant and the haul when the curb is not an option.
Does remodeling debris go in the trash cart?
No. Nothing outside the green cart is collected, and construction material is not on the trash-day list either. Drywall, tile, shingles and lumber go by truck or by dumpster to a facility that accepts construction and demolition waste, since the county landfill does not take it from haulers.