Jersey City, NJ Trash & Recycling: Bulk Item Disposal (2026)

§ 287-7 of the Jersey City Code, "Precollection procedures," sets the rules for preparing bulky and oversized material for pickup rather than leaving it to a regular container collection. Subsection D covers anything too large or heavy for a standard refuse container: objects that don't fit because of size or shape, or that weigh more than 60 pounds, may only be set out at the places and times arranged by appointment with the Jersey City Department of Public Works, meaning a resident can't simply leave a mattress, appliance or piece of furniture at the curb on a normal collection day without first scheduling it.

Doors must be removed from stoves, ovens, refrigerators and any other item with a locking door before pickup, a safety measure tied to accidental-entrapment risk. Subsection C separately governs yard and brush waste: tree trimmings, hedge clippings, lumber and similar material must be cut to lengths of no more than four feet and tied securely into bundles no thicker than two feet. Mattresses and box springs must be wrapped in plastic bags covering all exposed surfaces under Subsection I, and bulky household items such as appliances, furniture or mattresses may not be stored in residentially zoned yards except inside a fully enclosed structure per § 287-3(H).

Newspapers, boxes, cartons and crates get their own bundling rule under Subsection E, collapsed and tied to no more than two feet in length, height and width, kept separate from other refuse. These precollection rules apply citywide and are enforced alongside the rest of Chapter 287 by the Department of Public Safety's Division of Quality of Life and the Division of Police.