Duluth, MN Trash & Recycling: Bulk Item Disposal (2026)

Duluth Legislative Code Section 24-2 defines a 'bulky item' as anything that does not fit inside the standard 32-gallon solid waste container required by Section 24-18. Rather than running a separate bulk-pickup program, Chapter 24 folds bulky-item collection into what it calls 'ordinary collection' alongside weekly garbage and monthly recyclables. Under the definition's paragraph (b), a licensed collector must pick up a single bulky item such as an appliance, a piece of furniture, or a water heater, but only when four conditions are met: the resident arranges the pickup with the hauler in advance, the item is set out at the hauler's regular truck stop, a waste processing facility in the Duluth area will accept the item from the collector, and the resident agrees up front to pay the hauler's out-of-pocket disposal expenses.

Those expenses cannot be billed to the customer unless the hauler submits copies of the paid expense receipts along with the customer's bill, so the resident sees exactly what a landfill or processor charged before paying. Because bulky items are billed under a licensed collector's ordinary-collection duty rather than through a city-run program, residents arrange bulk pickups directly with their own hauler rather than the city; the same solid waste compliance officer who oversees Chapter 24 more broadly can step in under Section 24-36 to order removal of unaddressed bulky waste and recover the cost as a special assessment against the property.