Washington County, MD Trash & Recycling: Bulk Item Disposal (2026)

The Solid Waste Collection Licensing Ordinance defines bulky waste as large items of solid waste that, because of their size or weight, require handling other than what is normally used for solid waste, naming tree trunks and stumps, appliances, and furniture as examples in Section 1.0. Section 3.3 then lists the wastes Washington County will not accept at any county sanitary landfill. Item (11) bars intact bulky wastes outright, and item (7) bars motor vehicles, boats, campers, and mobile homes unless they have first been dismantled.

In practice a resident or contractor cannot simply drop a whole couch, mattress set, or junked car at the landfill gate; the material has to be broken down, or in the case of vehicles, stripped of major components, before the county's Solid Waste Division will take it. Anyone in the business of hauling bulky waste for another party on a regular basis, defined in Section 2.1.1 as an average of three times a week, must first obtain a hauler's license from the county. Violations of the bulky waste rules are enforced the same way as every other provision of the Ordinance: Section 9.1 authorizes a civil fine of up to $1,000 for a first violation and up to $5,000 for each later one, and Section 9.3 makes a knowing violation a misdemeanor punishable by up to $1,000 and up to six months in the Washington County Detention Center. The Director of Solid Waste can also revoke or suspend a hauler's license under Section 9.2 for repeated non-compliance.