Allen collects bulk items automatically once a month on a Saturday set by your trash day, with no appointment needed. Items must be out by 7 a.m. and weigh under 150 pounds each. Brush follows separate rules: small bundles weekly, and loose limbs once a month by calling CWD by noon the day before.
Which Saturday is your Allen bulk day?
No call, no form. Allen's bulk item collection page says bulk is picked up automatically once a month. Your Saturday depends on which weekday your trash goes out:
- Monday trash route: the 1st Saturday.
- Tuesday route: the 2nd Saturday.
- Wednesday and Thursday routes: the 3rd Saturday.
- Friday route: the 4th Saturday.
Timing and holiday shifts
Have everything out by 7 a.m. on that Saturday. The schedule can move around holidays observed by Community Waste Disposal (CWD), the city's hauler.
Missing a 7 a.m. Saturday set-out means another month of the pile in the garage. If early Saturdays don't work for your household, that's where a hauler earns its keep.
What fits Allen's monthly bulk program
Bulk is meant for large things that don't fit the 95-gallon trash cart. It isn't for extra bags or boxes of ordinary household trash. The city lists these as accepted:
- Broken furniture, mattresses and box springs.
- Household appliances, including washers, dryers and water heaters.
- Outdoor grills and televisions.
- Lawn mowers, but only with the oil and gas removed.
- Toys and yard tools, labeled as bulk trash so the crew knows they're meant to go.
The 150-pound rule and other limits
Every item must weigh less than 150 pounds. Rugs can't be longer than 6 feet. A solid-wood armoire or an old upright freezer can fail on weight alone.
Refrigerators, freezers and AC units need a refrigerant-removal tag before Allen will collect them. Without the tag, the unit stays at the curb.
Our Allen appliance removal page covers how we handle a fridge or washer when the tag isn't an option.
What stays behind on bulk Saturday
Allen's bulk crews leave these at the curb:
- Construction and remodeling waste, and fence materials.
- Tree limbs, trunks and yard trimmings, which have their own programs below.
- Household chemicals.
- Extra bags and boxes, and car parts.
- Kitchen sinks, and dead animals over 10 pounds.
Paying for the overflow
The bulk page points to a paid option for loads the free program won't touch. CWD runs a special collection for bulk and construction waste at 972-392-9300, option 2.
How does brush pickup work in Allen?
Allen splits yard waste into two programs, both run by CWD. Per Allen's yard waste page, the weekly one comes on your assigned trash day. It handles bagged grass, leaves and small bundles of sticks or brush.
- Weekly cap: 7 bundles of sticks or brush and 15 paper bags of leaves or clippings.
- Bundles: 4 feet by 2 feet, under 40 pounds, tied with cotton or jute rope, twine or string.
- No nylon rope or other non-compostable ties.
- Bags: biodegradable paper lawn bags only. Plastic bags won't be collected.
- Placement: out by 7 a.m., at least 2 feet from trash and recycle carts.
- Not accepted: dirt, gravel, concrete, rock, sod or other construction or landscaping materials.
Loose limbs: the monthly Wednesday pickup
Bigger limbs and branches that won't bundle have their own day. Allen collects loose brush once a month on a designated Wednesday, up to 3 cubic yards.
This one isn't automatic. Call CWD at 972.392.9300, option 2, by noon the day before. For larger amounts of loose brush, CWD offers a special collection for an added fee.
Tree crews and storm cleanup
If you hire a contractor to trim or remove a tree, that contractor handles all the debris. The city and CWD don't collect contractor debris, and the city isn't responsible for debris from commercial contractors.
After a storm, Allen's severe weather center puts cleanup on property owners. That includes homeowners, business owners and HOAs. Report a tree blocking a road, alley or sidewalk to the 24-hour hotline at 214.509.4530.
Storm debris beyond what CWD will collect goes to the NTMWD Custer Road Transfer Station. Show up in a contractor's truck and you're treated as a contractor and charged, even with a utility bill and ID.
Hauling it yourself from Allen
Allen's do-it-yourself disposal page gives residents two loads of household trash a month at designated NTMWD facilities. Yard waste gets two more loads a month at the Texas Pure Products Wood Grinding Facility.
Bring a current City of Allen water bill and a Texas driver's license with matching addresses. Items can be up to 8 feet in any dimension, including furniture, mattresses and appliances.
- Vehicles: a car, pickup or flat-bed rental truck. No commercial loads, stake beds or box trucks.
- Loads must be covered, tarped or tied down, as state law requires.
- Custer Road takes limited fence panels, soil, brick and concrete free only if they're 10% or less of the load.
- Large amounts of construction and demolition material go only to the 121 Regional Disposal Facility, for a per-ton fee.
- The Parkway Transfer Station accepts household appliances, including ones with Freon.
- Contractor and commercial waste at NTMWD facilities pays a commercial per-ton rate with a one-ton minimum.
Paint, batteries and pool chemicals
Allen picks household chemicals up at your house, in partnership with the City of Plano. Schedule through the MyAllen app or call Community Services at 214.509.4551, per Allen's household chemical collection page.
Each pickup is capped at 50 pounds, with bins ready by 7 a.m. on the scheduled day. Accepted items include paint and thinner, antifreeze, car batteries, motor oil and filters, pesticides, pool chemicals and small propane tanks.
City code bars these from trash and recycle carts. The program refuses ammunition, explosives, medical waste, unlabeled containers and chemicals mixed with a lot of water.
- Mercury thermostats go to Allen City Hall instead.
- Allen and Plano residents can pick up eligible chemicals free at the Allen Chemical Reuse Center.
- We don't haul chemicals or motor oil either; our hazardous waste guide for Collin County covers the wider picture.
TVs and computers
Televisions are on the bulk list, but the city also steers residents toward electronics-specific recyclers. Per Allen's electronics recycling page, two yearly events take computers and TVs: the Great American Cleanup and Allen Recycles Day.
When a hauler beats the bulk calendar
Allen's program is generous if your pile is light, sorted and ready by 7 a.m. on the right Saturday. It gets harder when an item tops 150 pounds, the brush came from a downed tree, or the job is a full garage.
We're about 15 minutes from Allen, and our Allen service area page shows the work we do there. Pricing is by trailer space, from $189 for a minimum pickup, with the firm quote confirmed on site before loading.
- Limbs past 3 cubic yards or a whole downed tree: Allen brush and yard debris removal.
- A recliner, sleeper sofa or bedroom set: furniture hauling in Allen.
- A garage or attic packed after two decades in one house: Allen garage and attic cleanouts.
Three steps, no Saturday alarm
Send photos for a quote. Pick a time. We haul it off and sweep up, and you pay at the end.
For how Allen stacks up against its neighbors, see the city-by-city bulk pickup rules for Collin County.