Same-day hauling across Pasadena, from Bungalow Heaven basements to Linda Vista estates and the shops of Old Pasadena, quoted flat before anything moves.
Free quote, no obligation · one flat number before we start · you can also text that number
Pasadena runs its own refuse service, so nothing written about LA Sanitation applies here. A City of Pasadena refuse customer gets two free bulky item pickups per calendar year, booked on (626) 744-7311 or the Pasadena Citizen Service app about two weeks ahead. The catch is who counts as a customer. The city collects solid waste exclusively from single-family homes and buildings of four units or fewer, so commercial premises, apartment buildings of five units or more and estate-type residential properties of 20,000 square feet or more are on private franchise haulers and get no free city pickup at all. Los Angeles Junk Removal & Hauling works for both groups, at one flat volume-based price agreed before we start.
Pasadena is a separate city with its own Public Works department and its own municipal code, and the housing stock makes that separation bite. Pasadena holds one of the largest concentrations of pre-1940 Craftsman and Spanish Revival houses in Southern California. Those houses came with cellars and basements, which is rare in Los Angeles, detached garages at the back of long narrow lots, and driveways cut for a car from the 1920s.
So two constraints stack on almost every job here. A city program that only ever reaches the parkway, and houses where everything you want gone sits a long way from the parkway, usually up or down a flight of stairs. See garage cleanouts, estate cleanouts and how our pricing works.
Use the city service when it fits, because when it fits it is genuinely good. Book on (626) 744-7311, through the Pasadena Citizen Service app, or with a Citizen Service Center request, and do it at least two weeks before your regular trash day. You have to list every item at the time you book so Public Works can send the right crew and equipment. Items go on the parkway, which is the strip between the sidewalk and the street, and the resident has to put them there: city staff cannot come onto private property to move anything. Set them out no more than 24 hours before the collection day or Code Enforcement can issue a citation, and have them out by 7:00 a.m. Crews run 7:00 a.m. to 4:00 p.m., Monday to Friday, and do not run on holidays.
Then the limits. One pickup is as many items as would fill a three cubic yard bin, which the city describes as four feet wide, five feet long and four feet high. Nothing may be bigger or heavier than two people can safely lift, which quietly rules out a piano, a safe, a full-size workbench and most sectional sofas. Wood, pipe and branches have to be cut to three feet and tied into handleable bundles. Put more on the parkway than you listed and you can be billed for it. Once you have used your two pickups in a calendar year, further collections carry a cost that depends on quantity and size. The city also pauses the service around the Rose Parade; the last published suspension ran from 19 December 2025 to 2 February 2026.
The refusal list is long and it is where most Pasadena jobs land. No e-waste, and the city spells it out: televisions, DVD players, phones, games consoles, computers and monitors. No construction or roofing material, including concrete, cement, brick, shingles, tile and drywall. No household hazardous waste, so no paint, batteries, fertiliser, oil or cleaning products. No landscaping material, which covers dirt, sand, gravel, large branches, stumps, bushes and railroad ties. No automobile parts beyond two tires off the rim. And no refrigerators and no air conditioning units, which surprises people every time. A dead fridge in a Pasadena garage has no municipal route at all. See appliance removal.
The eligibility rule is the one almost nobody knows. Pasadena's code says the city will not collect solid waste from commercial units, from estate-type residential properties of 20,000 square feet or more, or from multi-family residential buildings containing five or more units, except on a written request from the owner for a minimum period of six months. Collection from single-family homes and from buildings of four units or fewer is performed exclusively by the city. In practice that means a Craftsman fourplex off Lake Avenue has two free pickups a year and the thirty-unit building next door has none. A restaurant on Colorado Boulevard has none. And a large parcel in Oak Knoll or Linda Vista may well have none either. Those addresses are on franchised private haulers, and a franchise contract is written for bins on a schedule, not for a garage full of a lifetime.
| Who runs it | City of Pasadena Public Works. Not LA Sanitation |
|---|---|
| Cost and limit | Two free pickups per calendar year, City of Pasadena refuse customers only |
| How to book | (626) 744-7311, the Pasadena Citizen Service app, or a Citizen Service Center request |
| Lead time | At least two weeks ahead of your regular trash day; itemised list required |
| Volume cap | What fits a three cubic yard bin, 4ft x 5ft x 4ft. Nothing heavier than two people can lift |
| Where | Parkway only, out by 7am, no more than 24 hours early. Staff cannot enter private property |
| Refused | E-waste, construction and roofing debris, paint and chemicals, dirt and stumps, refrigerators and AC units |
| Not eligible | Commercial premises, buildings of 5 or more units, estate-type properties of 20,000 sq ft or more |
Source: City of Pasadena Public Works, Residential Refuse Service & Recycling — Bulky Item Procedure and City of Pasadena, Bulky Item Pick up. Eligibility from City of Pasadena, Commercial Franchise Haulers.
The hard part of a Pasadena job is almost never the truck. It is the distance between where the junk is and where a truck can legally stand. Bungalow Heaven, the city's first landmark district and home to more than 800 Craftsman houses built between 1900 and 1930, sets the pattern for a large part of eastern Pasadena: a bungalow at the front of a deep narrow lot, a single-width driveway down one side, a detached garage at the back, and a basement or cellar underneath. Everything comes up a flight of stairs, along a drive too tight to reverse a truck down, and out to the street by hand. We price the walk, not the pile.
Estate work concentrates at the two ends of the city. Oak Knoll sits at the southern edge against the San Marino line, around the Langham Huntington. Linda Vista lies west of the Arroyo Seco between the Rose Bowl and the San Rafael Hills. Both are large parcels, big houses and decades of accumulation across attics, basements, pool houses and multiple garages. These jobs usually run against a probate or escrow date with the family out of state, so we work room by room, separate what should be donated or appraised from what is genuinely waste, and photograph anything we are unsure about before it leaves. See estate cleanouts.
Historic-district rules matter here in a way they do not in most of Los Angeles, and the distinction is worth getting right. Emptying a structure is not a permit issue. Removing one is. In a designated Pasadena landmark district, and Bungalow Heaven, Madison Heights and Orange Heights are among them, demolitions, street-visible exterior alterations and new construction all require a Certificate of Appropriateness before a building permit can be issued, and the city's own guidance says that review typically delays a permit by about two months. So clear out the sagging garage now and put the demolition on the city's clock. We do the clearing and the disposal; the permit is between you and the Design and Historic Preservation counter. See shed and outbuilding removal.
Two other rhythms shape the calendar. Caltech and Pasadena City College turn over thousands of tenants in a compressed summer window, which produces mattresses, flat-pack desks, mini-fridges and monitors all at once, most of it from buildings of five or more units that have no city pickup to fall back on. And the commercial corridors, Old Pasadena along Colorado Boulevard and the South Lake Avenue district, are business premises by definition, so the residential program excludes them entirely. Retail fit-outs, office clearances and restaurant strip-outs run to the building's rules instead: dock access, freight elevator bookings, a certificate of insurance to management, and after-hours windows where the lease demands them. See commercial junk removal and e-waste disposal.
Our own crews on Los Angeles County jobs. The junk removal we run in Pasadena looks like this too: side yards, narrow walkways and the back of the property is where the work actually is.
Nothing Pasadena refuses at the parkway is actually unhaulable. It simply has a different destination, and each of those destinations has a rule attached. Usable furniture, books, tools and garden equipment go to donation first. Mattresses and box springs go into California's state-funded recycling program rather than to landfill. Scrap metal goes to a recycler, and that is where the refused refrigerators, freezers and air conditioning units go too, because refrigerant units are handled as universal waste rather than as bulky trash. Electronics have been universal waste in California since the state exemption ended on 9 February 2006, so televisions, monitors and IT gear go to a certified handler and never to a bin.
Household hazardous waste is where Pasadena residents get stuck, because the city has no permanent hazardous waste facility of its own. Pasadena directs residents to the City of Los Angeles S.A.F.E. Centers, which are free to all LA County residents. The nearest one is the Los Angeles-Glendale S.A.F.E. Center at 4600 Colorado Blvd, Los Angeles 90039, listed as Saturday only, 9 to 3. It sits inside a water reclamation plant, so a state-issued photo ID is required at the security gate before you are allowed in. The limit is 125 pounds or 15 gallons per visit, which is a California transport limit rather than a city rule, and no business waste is accepted. Confirm it is open before you drive over, because these centers do close for maintenance. Paint is separate and easier: PaintCare drop-off is free at hundreds of California sites, and Pasadena points residents straight at the locator.
The other free route is the county event. LA County and the Sanitation Districts run free drive-through household hazardous waste and e-waste collections, open to any county resident, no appointment, usually 9 a.m. to 3 p.m. Pasadena hosts one roughly every two years, and the most recent was held on 14 February 2026 at 360 N Arroyo Blvd. If you miss the Pasadena date you are waiting a long time for the next local one, though other county events run at sites across the region in between. That gap is why so many Pasadena garages still hold a shelf of half-used solvent. We separate it and route it rather than leaving it behind.
Construction and demolition debris follows Pasadena's own ordinance, not the City of Los Angeles one. Chapter 8.62 of the Pasadena Municipal Code requires covered projects to divert at least 75 percent of their waste through recycling, salvage or deconstruction, and covered projects include all new structures, all residential additions, all demolitions, and residential alterations above a set permit value. Compliance is tracked in the Green Halo system: the plan has to be approved before the permit is issued, weight tickets are uploaded as the job runs, and the compliance report has to be approved before the final inspection. Franchised Pasadena haulers are held to the same 75 percent standard for C and D material. For mixed debris that leaves the area, LA Sanitation publishes each certified processor's audited 2026 mixed-C and D recycling rate, and the nearest to Pasadena are City Terrace Recycling at 72.75 percent and American Reclamation in Los Angeles at 80.75 percent. If your project is permitted, ask for the weight tickets. If it is not permitted, a tear-out, a pile left by a previous owner, a garage of old lumber, we simply haul it and sort it.
Sources: City of Pasadena, Household Hazardous Waste; LA Sanitation, S.A.F.E. Centers and Household Hazardous Waste; LA County CleanLA, City of Pasadena free HHW and e-waste collection event; City of Pasadena, Construction and Demolition Debris Recycling; LA Sanitation, Construction and Demolition Recycling Program.
We are on these streets constantly because we are already next door: South Pasadena, Alhambra, Glendale, Burbank. If your job straddles two of them it is still one visit and one number. The full list is on areas we serve. Down the 110 and the 134 we are also in Los Feliz and Downtown Los Angeles most days of the week.
We are a service-area business with no yard or storefront, so there is nothing to drive to — the truck comes to you. The whole list is on areas we serve.
Basements and back-lot garages, whole-house estates, student turnovers and Colorado Boulevard storefronts.
The whole garage in one visit. We sort, donate what is usable and sweep the slab.
A full property cleared with care, on probate or move-out timelines.
Couches, sectionals, mattresses in the same trip, beds, desks and wardrobes carried down rather than dragged.
Fridges, washers and AC units. Refrigerant units are handled as universal waste.
TVs, CRT monitors and computers. Banned from the trash in California.
COIs, after-hours dock slots and property-manager invoicing.
Mostly about who the city will and will not collect from.
Yes, but only to City of Pasadena refuse customers, and only twice per calendar year. Book on (626) 744-7311 or the Pasadena Citizen Service app at least two weeks before your regular trash day, and list every item when you book. The load has to fit a three cubic yard bin, sit on the parkway rather than on your property, and contain nothing heavier than two people can safely lift.
Almost certainly not. Pasadena collects solid waste exclusively from single-family homes and from buildings of four units or fewer. Buildings of five or more units are served by a private franchise hauler, and so are commercial premises and estate-type residential properties of 20,000 square feet or more. Your hauler's contract covers bins on a schedule, not a two-bedroom clearout, which is when people call us.
No to both. Pasadena's bulky program explicitly excludes refrigerators and air conditioning units, and excludes e-waste including televisions, monitors, computers, phones and games consoles. Refrigerant appliances go to a scrap recycler and electronics have been universal waste in California since 2006, so both need a certified route. See appliance removal and e-waste disposal.
Not the bin and not the parkway. Pasadena has no permanent hazardous waste facility, so it directs residents to the City of Los Angeles S.A.F.E. Centers. The closest is the Los Angeles-Glendale center at 4600 Colorado Blvd, listed Saturday only 9 to 3, free, capped at 125 pounds or 15 gallons a visit, with a state photo ID required at the gate because it sits inside a water reclamation plant. LA County also runs free drive-through events; Pasadena hosted one on 14 February 2026 at 360 N Arroyo Blvd and holds them roughly every two years. If we are clearing the garage we separate and route this for you.
Yes, and it is most of what we do here. Pasadena's older lots are deep and narrow, with a single-width driveway and the garage at the back, so we plan the carry before we plan the truck: stairs, door widths, corner clearance and where the truck can legally park. Tell us the tightest point when you call. See garage cleanouts.
Clearing it out, no. Removing it, yes. In a designated Pasadena landmark district such as Bungalow Heaven, Madison Heights or Orange Heights, demolitions and street-visible exterior changes require a Certificate of Appropriateness before a building permit is issued, and the city says that review usually adds about two months. Empty the structure now and start the paperwork in parallel. See shed and outbuilding removal.
Word for word from Google. Nothing tidied.
Working with Hunter and this company was great. Gave us a quick quote over the phone after sending photos and was able to help us the SAME day. Removal was fast and easy. We definitely recommend going with this company.
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The same crew and the same free upfront quote, written for the job you actually have in Pasadena.
Fridges, washers, dryers and AC units, de-gassed and scrapped legally.
Drywall, lumber, tile and concrete, hauled to a certified C&D processor.
A full property cleared with care, on probate or move-out timelines.
Couches, sectionals, bed frames and wardrobes carried out and routed for donation or recycling.
The whole garage in one visit. We sort, donate what is usable and sweep the slab.
Mattresses and box springs taken to a recycler rather than a landfill.
Booked and cleared today where the schedule allows.
Every Los Angeles County city runs its own program. These guides say which one applies to your address, and what it costs to get it wrong.
Thirteen Los Angeles-area programs in one table: how many free pickups a year, how many items, who to call and what each one refuses.
The state and city penalties, why liability follows the waste back to whoever produced it, and how to get a pile cleared off your street.
Seven checks that take ten minutes, and why the fine for illegally dumped junk follows the property it came from.
Send a photo, get a flat number back. Free, no obligation, no pressure and no call-out fee — and if your city will haul it free instead, we will tell you that too. Most requests are answered within the hour during working hours.
