Royal Oak, MI Trash & Recycling: Bulk Item Disposal (2026)

Royal Oak City Code § 633-2 governs how bulk items and brush reach the curb, not whether they can be collected at all. Bulk rubbish, cardboard, wooden crates and similar debris must be flattened and tied or packed into a container no larger than two feet by three feet and no heavier than 60 pounds; brush follows the same 60-pound cap but must first be cut into three-foot lengths. Larger branches go through the City's chipper program under § 633-2D: the crew chips brush at the curb only after the resident makes the minimum payment set by the City Commission, billed in fifteen-minute increments, and § 633-4B separately authorizes the City to charge for chipper brush over one inch but under five inches in diameter as part of the regular schedule.

Tree trunks, stumps, roots and diseased elms, along with any tree portion over five inches in diameter, are excluded from routine curb collection under § 633-5D and must be hauled away by the owner or a private contractor. Multiple-family buildings and commercial or industrial sites generating two or more cubic yards of refuse a week must instead use an enclosed, City-approved container on a cement pad rather than loose curb bundles. Rubbish or debris left improperly bundled is tagged and left at the curb, and if the City ends up clearing it for health or safety reasons the cleanup cost is billed to the owner.