Where does junk actually go in St. Louis?

The short answer

Junk from a St. Louis home splits into streams. Usable furniture may be donated when local charities accept it. Appliances go to scrap and appliance recycling, because Missouri law bans them from landfills. Scrap tires have to be cut, chipped or shredded before any landfill takes them. Yard waste is banned from Missouri landfills. Electronics from the Illinois side cannot go in the trash. What is left — broken, mixed, unrecyclable material — goes through transfer and disposal facilities.

The laws that shape the route

Missouri's solid waste statutes do a lot of the sorting before anyone lifts a box.

• RSMo 260.250: major appliances, waste oil and lead-acid batteries "shall not be disposed of in a solid waste disposal area" (since 1991). Yard waste is also banned from landfills (since 1992).
• RSMo 260.270: scrap tires "may not be deposited in a landfill unless the tires have been cut, chipped or shredded."
• Illinois EPA: covered electronics such as TVs, computers and monitors cannot go in regular waste in Illinois.
• Federal EPA: refrigerant has to be recovered from fridges, freezers and AC units before scrapping.

A responsible hauler sorts around those rules. An irresponsible one dumps, which in Missouri is a misdemeanor under RSMo 577.070.

Stream 1: furniture and household goods

Clean, intact furniture is the most reusable thing in a typical St. Louis cleanout — solid dressers, dining sets, bookcases, desks. We try to donate usable items when local charities accept them. That depends on condition and on what charities will take that week, so it is never guaranteed.

Upholstered pieces that are stained, torn or worn out, particleboard that has swelled in a damp basement, and mattresses mostly cannot be reused. What can be recycled is; the rest goes to disposal.

Stream 2: appliances and metal

Washers, dryers, ranges, water heaters, furnaces and fridges are steel. Because of the Missouri ban, they go to scrap-metal recyclers. Anything with refrigerant gets it recovered first. In the City of St. Louis, these items have their own monthly collection, BOAT-E — batteries, oil, appliances, tires and electronics — separate from regular trash.

Bed frames, metal shelving, grills and exercise equipment often go the same way as scrap. So do the cast-iron radiators and tubs that come out of old brick flats during rehabs in Soulard, Benton Park and Tower Grove South.

Stream 3: tires, yard waste and electronics

Tires go to tire processing, where they are shredded or chipped as Missouri requires. Yard waste — branches, brush, leaves — is kept out of Missouri landfills and handled separately from household trash. That matters after spring storms, when a lot of St. Louis yards fill with broken limbs, as they did after the May 2025 tornado. Electronics go to electronics recycling; on the Illinois side, that is required by law.

Stream 4: paint and the hazardous edge

Paint is accepted and priced per container: $30 for a 1-gallon can, $52 for a 5-gallon bucket. St. Louis basements tend to hold a shelf of it, left over from decades of touch-ups. Keep lids on and cans upright so they travel cleanly.

Solvents, pesticides, pool chemicals and similar household hazardous waste are a different matter. They are not standard on any junk removal job, and the City's transfer stations do not accept household hazardous waste either. Tell us what you have and we will say case by case. Car batteries and motor oil, both banned from Missouri landfills, are part of the City's BOAT-E collection for City residents.

Stream 5: everything else

Mixed debris, broken furniture, carpet, drywall scraps, and the long tail of a basement — the box of mildewed paperbacks, the cracked plastic bins — goes through transfer and disposal facilities. City residents can self-haul some of this to the City's North and South transfer stations, Monday to Friday 8:00 to 4:00, up to 12 half-ton pickup loads a year, with ID and a water or solid-waste bill. Household hazardous waste is not accepted there.

One basement, traced piece by piece

Here is how a typical South City basement splits up. Say a Dutchtown flat has an old washer, a chest freezer, four tires, a solid oak dresser, a box of old electronics, three cans of paint and a pile of broken shelving and boxes.

• Washer and freezer: appliance recycling, with the freezer's refrigerant recovered first.
• Tires: tire processing.
• Oak dresser: a donation candidate if a local charity accepts it; otherwise recycling or disposal.
• Electronics: electronics recycling.
• Paint: accepted, handled as paint.
• Shelving and boxes: metal shelving to scrap, the rest to disposal.

Priced from the list: $133 + $146 + $87 + $126 + $77 + $30 + $30 + $30 = $659, before the loose shelving and boxes. With that much loose material, a 3/4 truck at $587 or a 7/8 truck at $661 may be the cleaner number for the whole basement, and the quote will show it.

What it costs to send it the right way

A garage clear-out in Affton with a set of four tires, an old fridge and a box of electronics is $87 + $164 + $77 = $328. A storm cleanup with yard waste and a broken patio set — table and four chairs — is $88 + $89 + $30 + $30 + $30 + $30 = $297. Disposal is included in the price, and we recycle whatever we can.

To check any hauler, ask three questions. Where do appliances go? What do you do with tires? Are you insured? Vetted, insured local haulers handle every JunkRabbit job, and certificates of insurance for buildings are emailed within one hour. Get an upfront number at the instant quote page.

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