Lakewood, WA Trash & Recycling: Bulk Item Disposal (2026)

Chapter 13.06 LMC draws a hard line between ordinary household garbage and 'nonconforming items,' defined in LMC 13.06.023 as refuse that by size, weight or unwieldiness is too difficult for routine collection: large bulky items, tree limbs and stumps over four inches in diameter, furniture, appliances, concrete and building materials, and tires. LMC 13.06.090(D) makes clear that nonconforming items simply left at the curb or alley edge will not be picked up by the contractor's regular route crew. To get a large item removed, a resident has to request a 'special pickup,' defined in LMC 13.06.028 as service outside the regularly scheduled pickup time; if that request needs its own truck dispatch, the customer pays additional rate charges on top of the standard bill.

Commercial and industrial generators with high volumes of bulky refuse are routed differently: LMC 13.06.100(B) requires customers who cannot be adequately served by containerized service to use bulk containerized service, meaning drop boxes larger than 10 cubic yards approved by the Public Works Director, billed under LMC 13.06.100(D) for both the haul to the disposal site and the return trip. Dumping or burying refuse anywhere in the City instead of paying for proper removal is a separate offense: LMC 13.06.060 makes it unlawful outright, and an accumulation left to pile up is treated as a public nuisance subject to City abatement and a lien on the property under LMC 13.06.055.