Some of this is our choice. Most of it isn't — it's what the Regional facility will accept and what Ontario law allows a non-licensed contractor to move.
Either way, the useful part isn't the "no". It's knowing where each thing actually goes, because several of them are free to dispose of yourself.
Hazardous waste — free to drop off
Paint, solvents, thinners, motor oil, antifreeze, pesticides, pool chemicals, propane tanks, fluorescent tubes, batteries.
None of it can go in a mixed junk load. It contaminates the whole thing, and Regional facilities weigh and charge for the entire load when it's mixed.
Where it goes: Durham Region waste management facilities accept household hazardous waste free of charge, up to 50 litres or 25 containers per vehicle per visit. Fluorescent bulbs cap at 40 per vehicle.
That's genuinely free. If you have a shelf of half-used paint cans in the garage, that's a car trip, not an invoice.
Latex paint is the exception worth knowing: if you leave the lid off until it's solid all the way through, it can go in regular garbage. Oil-based paint never can.
Asbestos — licensed contractors only
If your house was built before 1990, asbestos is a real possibility in vermiculite attic insulation, popcorn ceiling texture, some vinyl floor tiles and their backing, old pipe wrap, and certain textured drywall compounds.
Removal in Ontario is regulated work. It requires a licensed abatement contractor, proper containment, and specific disposal procedures. No junk removal company can legally take it, and any that offers to is either uninsured or lying to you.
What to do: get it tested before anything is disturbed. Testing is inexpensive relative to the alternative, and asbestos is only dangerous once it's airborne — which is exactly what removing it carelessly does.
Refrigerant appliances — we take them, with a fee
Fridges, freezers, air conditioners, dehumidifiers, water coolers.
We can take these. The refrigerant has to be recovered by a certified technician before the unit is scrapped, and Durham Region charges $20 per unit for it.
That gets passed through at cost. It's a fixed amount, it's in your quote before you book, and it isn't added afterward. Washers, dryers, stoves, and dishwashers have no such fee — they're ordinary metal.
Tires — ten per visit, free
Durham Region takes tires at no charge, capped at ten per vehicle per visit.
The cap is the facility's, so a load with more than ten has to be split. If you've got a stack in the garage, that's two free trips rather than a line on an invoice.
Medical and biohazard waste
Sharps, needles, medication, anything contaminated with bodily fluids. This needs a specialised waste stream.
Where it goes: most pharmacies take back expired medication and sharps containers at no cost. Ask before turning up with a bag.
Septic, sewage, and animal waste
Needs a licensed hauler with the right equipment. Not something a trailer and two people can legally move.
Ammunition, explosives, flares
Contact Durham Regional Police for safe disposal. Do not put it in a bin, a bag, or anyone's trailer.
What about mattresses, and can I just leave things at the curb?
This is the one people get wrong most often, because it varies by municipality within the same Region.
Every Durham municipality collects bulky furniture, but under four different sets of rules. Ajax and Pickering take two items on your regular garbage day with no booking. Brock, Clarington, Scugog, and Uxbridge take the same two by appointment. Oshawa allows six items free with two business days notice, and Whitby up to twelve for $27. Our curbside lookup tool covers all eight. Before you drag a sofa to the road, confirm your own rules, because an uncollected item sitting at the curb can become a bylaw problem for you rather than a solved one.
Mattresses are fine for us to take, and they're one of the most common single-item pickups we do.
The things we'd rather divert than bury
Electronics, blue-box material, and polystyrene are all free to drop at Regional facilities. So there's no cost reason to landfill them, and we don't.
Furniture in genuinely good condition is worth a donation run rather than a disposal fee, and we'll tell you honestly which category yours falls into. A sofa with a broken frame and water damage is not donatable no matter how much anyone would like it to be, and pretending otherwise just moves the disposal cost to a charity.
If you're not sure
Send a photo. That's the fastest way to find out whether something is a problem, and if there's anything in your pile we can't take, we'll flag it and tell you where it can go instead — before you book, not on the day.
Send photos for a quote or see what junk removal costs in Durham Region.
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.