Somerville, MA Trash & Recycling: Bulk Item Disposal (2026)

Section 11-31(l) defines a bulk item as anything one person can't reasonably handle, anything over 75 pounds, or specific categories like auto parts (generators, starters, wheel rims, small body metal, though not engine blocks or large body panels) and appliances such as stoves, air conditioners, dishwashers, washers, dryers, water heaters and refrigerators. The city will collect those appliances, but only after every door has been completely removed and a white-goods disposal sticker, purchased from the Department of Public Works, is affixed to the unit. The commissioner of public works can also refuse pickup outright if a household's refuse is unusually large or a bulk item's size, weight or nature can't reasonably be handled; earth, stones, tree trunks and large limbs are never collected and stay the resident's responsibility.

Section 11-31(m) lets owner-occupants of one- or two-family homes put out their own repair debris, capped at bundles no longer than four feet, no wider than 24 inches, and no heavier than 50 pounds, with total volume under one cubic yard per collection, and only if a building permit for work under $5,000 performed or supervised by the owner is posted on the property. Separately, the DPW yard's sanitation division garage takes up to four unmounted car tires and two wet-cell batteries during normal business hours under subsection (l)(3). Illegally dumping a bulk item on someone else's property is prosecutable under Chapter 270, Section 16 of the General Laws per subsection (o).