What Boise Junk Removal Can't Haul Away, and Where It Goes

The shelf above the workbench is where most junk removal jobs get complicated. In Meridian last spring it was eight or nine paint cans, two gas jugs, and something sealed in an old coffee can that neither of us wanted to open.

"Those go too, right?" the homeowner asked. That's the one place I have to say no, and it catches almost everybody off guard.

It isn't me being picky. It's the scale house.

What junk removal can't take, and why it isn't up to me

Every load I haul gets weighed and looked over before it gets dumped. Household hazardous waste mixed into a trailer can get the whole load turned away. Not the one can. The whole thing.

So my list of no-gos is short, and I stick to it.

Wet paint and stain. Solvents, thinner, gasoline, motor oil, antifreeze. Weed killer, pesticide, pool chemicals. Propane tanks, including the little green camping ones. Car batteries, ammunition, medical sharps.

Then there's anything that might be asbestos. Around the Treasure Valley that usually means popcorn ceiling scrapings or the wrap on ductwork in a Boise Bench basement built in the fifties. If I'm not sure what it is, I don't touch it, and neither should you.

Good news is Ada County takes household hazardous waste out at the Hidden Hollow site, and last I checked it's free for residents. Canyon County runs its own collection days for folks in Nampa and Caldwell. Put a box in your back seat, you're in and out.

Paint is the big one, and there's a fix

Paint is far and away the most common thing I leave behind. Half of what comes off a garage shelf in Star or Middleton is builder beige from the year the house went up.

If it's latex or water-based and there's only a little left in the can, you can dry it out yourself. Cat litter, sawdust, or a scoop of play sand stirred in, lid off, set it somewhere warm for a day. Our summers do most of that work for you.

Tip: Once latex paint is dried solid all the way through and the lid is off so your hauler can see it, most trash service around here will take the can in your regular bin. Oil-based paint and stain never qualify, no matter how dry it looks. If you can't tell which one you've got, it goes to hazardous waste.

Cans that are still mostly full and still good? Worth a call to a local reuse program before you dump them. Somebody's always painting a rental.

Tires, propane, fridges and mattresses

Some things I can take. They just don't ride free.

Tires get charged per tire at the landfill, so four of them off a trailer project nudges the number. Mattresses carry a disposal fee of their own in this valley. Neither one is a big deal, but I'd rather you hear it in the quote than at the curb.

Refrigerators, freezers and AC units hold refrigerant, and that legally has to be recovered by somebody certified before the metal gets scrapped. It's why appliance removal can price out differently than a couch of the same size. The steel itself I recycle, which takes some of the sting out.

Propane's the easy one. A standard barbecue tank goes to any hardware store or gas station with an exchange cage and you're done. The little camp canisters ride along to hazardous waste with everything else.

Car batteries you can hand across an auto parts counter and usually walk out with a core credit. Might as well get paid.

Where the rest of it goes after a junk removal run

People ask me about this more than they ask about price, honestly.

Usable furniture, working small appliances, kids' gear, tools, dishes: those go to Idaho Youth Ranch or St. Vincent de Paul. Metal goes to the scrapyard, and metal covers more than you'd guess. Old swing sets, water heaters, bed frames, patio furniture that rusted through on a west-facing deck.

Spring cleanup debris goes to green waste. Clean cardboard gets recycled. What's left after all that is stuff nobody would want, and yes, it ends up in the hole out at the landfill.

Still a smaller pile than what came out of your garage.

Which brings up cost, since the two are tied together. A quote around Boise comes down to how much room it takes in the trailer, then weight, then anything carrying a disposal fee. No mystery formula.

So when you text a photo, get the shelf with the chemicals in the frame too. I'll tell you what I'm hauling, what's a quick errand you can knock out yourself, and what the difference does to the price. Takes about a minute.

What I'd rather avoid is pulling up, loading two thirds of it, and leaving you standing in the driveway with a stack of paint cans and a surprise.

The bottom line

Hazardous stuff stays. Everything else goes. A few odd items cost a little extra, and sorting that out before I show up saves us both a headache.

Got a garage or a shed you're unsure about? Send a photo to (208) 391-0221 and we'll figure it out. No pressure either way, and I'll say so if part of it is a five-minute trip you can handle without me.