Rubbish removal · Canberra & ACT
Rubbish removal and clear-outs
Someone with a truck, a crew, and somewhere legal to take it. That last bit is where the money goes, and it's the bit worth asking about.
Most of the price is the tip, not the truck. Disposal in the ACT is charged by weight and by waste type, and a mixed load costs more than a sorted one. That's why a quote jumps when there's soil, concrete or rubble in the pile, and why pulling the green waste out before the truck turns up can genuinely save you money. Ask whoever's quoting what they're basing the disposal on.
What gets posted
Green waste
Prunings, hedge trimmings, a tree that came down.
Prunings, hedge trimmings, a tree that came down.
Garage and shed clear-outs
Decades of it, usually with a deadline attached.
Decades of it, usually with a deadline attached.
Deceased estates
Whole house. You want a crew that's patient and careful.
Whole house. You want a crew that's patient and careful.
End of tenancy
Whatever the last tenant left, usually needed this week.
Whatever the last tenant left, usually needed this week.
Builders waste
Off-cuts, packaging, plasterboard, demolition rubble.
Off-cuts, packaging, plasterboard, demolition rubble.
Old furniture and whitegoods
One item, or a full house lot.
One item, or a full house lot.
Soil, rubble and concrete
Heavy. Priced nothing like general waste.
Heavy. Priced nothing like general waste.
Commercial and strata
Dumped items in a car park or bin room, on a regular run.
Dumped items in a car park or bin room, on a regular run.
Site clean between trades
So the next tradie can actually get to work.
So the next tradie can actually get to work.
What will not go on the truck
Say up front if any of this is in the pile. Nobody's going to knock the job back over it — they just need to bring the right people and price it honestly.
- Anything that might be asbestos. Old fibro sheeting, eaves, backing behind a bathroom, corrugated cement sheet. This is licensed removal work with its own disposal rules, and no general rubbish crew should touch it. If you're not sure, treat it as if it is and say so.
- Chemicals, paint, oil, gas bottles and batteries. These have their own drop-off arrangements in the ACT, and a truck can't take them to landfill.
- Tyres, which get charged separately almost everywhere.
- Anything still connected — a hot water system, an air conditioner, a stove. Someone licensed disconnects it first.
What to tell us
- How much, in something a driver can picture. "About a trailer load", "fills the single garage", "a ute and a half".
- What's in it. Mostly green, mostly furniture, mixed, or heavy.
- Where it is. Stacked out the front, spread through the backyard, or still inside the house.
- Stairs or a lift, if it's a unit.
- Truck access and parking, especially round the inner north and Kingo.
- When it has to be gone by. Loads of this work is deadline work, and saying so gets you a faster response.
- A photo of the pile. One photo replaces the whole conversation about volume.