A kitchen demo in Bowmanville and a basement tear-out in downtown Oshawa produce the same problem: none of it goes to the curb.
Durham Region's collection page states it plainly — the Region does not collect renovation material. Cabinetry, lumber, drywall, doors, carpet, and underlay are named. Oshawa and Whitby run their own bulky-item programs, and those do not take construction debris either. Ajax, Pickering, Clarington, Uxbridge, Scugog, and Brock follow the Regional rule. The free option that works for a couch does not exist for a reno.
That is the whole reason this pile is a different job from household junk.
What counts as renovation debris
A sofa, a mattress, and a fridge are household items. The eight municipalities will take some of those at the curb, under four different sets of rules — the curbside lookup is the place for that.
Renovation debris is what comes off the house itself:
- Drywall, plaster, and joint compound
- Lumber, trim, and construction wood
- Cabinets, countertops, and interior doors
- Carpet, underlay, laminate, and vinyl plank
- Tile, backer board, and old flooring
- Concrete, brick, block, and leftover bagged mortar
The last group is the one that changes the price. Ordinary demo — drywall, wood, cabinets — is general waste at the facility. Tile, concrete, brick, and soil are fill, and fill costs more than twice as much per tonne. Mix even a little fill through the rest of the pile and the Region charges the mixed-fill rate on the entire weight, not just the heavy bits.
That is why a kitchen reno that includes the tile backsplash and the drywall should be two piles, not one.
What the facility actually charges
Three sites take this material: the Oshawa Waste Management Facility at 1640 Ritson Road North, Port Perry at 1623 Reach Street, and Brock Township on Brock Sideroad 17. Hours are Tuesday to Saturday. Debit, credit, or prepaid card — no cash.
| Material | Rate |
|---|---|
| General waste (drywall, lumber, cabinets, carpet) | $175 per tonne |
| Fill (soil, brick, concrete, gravel, tile rubble) | $375 per tonne |
| Mixed load containing any fill | $250 per tonne |
| Any load under 40 kg | $7 flat |
Above 40 kg the general-waste charge steps $1.40 per additional 8 kg, which is the same $175 per tonne written a different way. A pickup-truck load of drywall is often just the minimum. A trailer of broken concrete is not.
Rates have been in force since May 1, 2024. The official fee schedule is public, and it is the same number we pay when we tip a load.
Bin or pickup
This is a decision about how the debris arrives, not a slogan.
A bin is the right call when a renovation runs over several days or weeks and you can load as you go. In Durham they typically run $350–$600 for a week depending on size. If it sits on the street rather than the driveway, most municipalities want a permit. You do the lifting. The quoted rental is not the final bill — most include a weight allowance, and a bin filled with tile, plaster, or shingles goes over.
Pickup is the right call when the pile is already in one place and you want it gone in a visit. Two people, the trailer, the disposal, and a sweep. A quarter trailer of light reno debris is usually $209–$309; a half load $379–$489; a full 15-yard trailer $629–$799, before HST. Heavy material is quoted by weight rather than by how full the trailer looks, for the reason in the table above. The full rate card and the longer bin comparison live on the cost guide — the short version is that junk removal costs more per yard and less per hour of your life.
If the job is a basement tear-out or a garage that became the staging room, send a photo of each pile. Fifteen seconds, and you will know which side of that line you are on.
What we will not take from a reno
Same rules as every other job, more likely to turn up here. Wet paint, stain, solvents, and construction adhesives are household hazardous waste. Asbestos — or anything that might be, in a house built before 1990: popcorn ceiling, vermiculite, some vinyl tile and its backing — is licensed abatement work, not a junk trailer.
What we cannot take, and where each thing goes, is the full list. The useful part on a reno is to flag those items in the photos before anyone books a morning. Separating a few paint cans is a trip to the facility's free hazardous-waste drop; disturbing asbestos is not.
What is actually reusable
A lot of a kitchen or bathroom reno is still usable the day it comes out — cabinets in decent shape, unused boxes of tile, interior doors, fixtures that are not cracked. Habitat for Humanity's ReStore takes building materials and furniture that can be resold, and they will tell you no if a piece will not sell. That is the honest version. Demo waste, water-damaged MDF, and half a sheet of used drywall are not a donation.
If something is genuinely reusable we will say so and offer a donation route rather than tipping it. Volume does not change the test.
Where this shows up in Durham
Older housing stock is where the kitchens and basements turn over: downtown Oshawa, south Whitby below Dundas, Bowmanville's older streets, the century homes in Newcastle. Those jobs are mixed — drywall and cabinets plus tile or plaster — and they are the ones that go wrong if everything hits the trailer as one pile.
Newer subdivisions in Courtice, north Ajax, and Windfields produce a different load: leftover materials, packaging, and the odd unused vanity. Lighter, closer to general waste, and often small enough that a single pickup beats a week of bin rental.
Either way the curb is not an option, which is why renovation debris is the category where you pay closest to true disposal cost. There is no free municipal program to peel it off first.
Send photos of the pile and we will tell you whether it is a bin week, a one-visit haul, or a weight quote. If there is still furniture in the same room, check the curbside lookup before you pay anyone to move a couch the municipality would have taken.
Frequently asked questions
We run junk removal across Durham Region — Oshawa, Whitby, Ajax, Pickering, Clarington, Uxbridge, Scugog, and Brock. We price jobs from customer photos so the number you're told is the number you pay.