City of Pensacola bulk trash pickup runs through a service the city calls Special Collection. It covers bulky items too large for your city garbage cart, like old furniture, household appliances and small amounts of debris from home repairs. Unlike some curbside programs, it is scheduled and comes with a fee, and scheduling ahead costs significantly less than unscheduled collection. Here is how it works, as posted by the city in October 2026. Check the city's pages for changes before you set anything out.
City limits or ECUA? Check who picks up your trash
Pensacola addresses don't all get the same service. Escambia County's page on residential waste providers explains that the City of Pensacola collects garbage, recycling and yard trash inside city limits, while ECUA serves the rest of the county except the Town of Century. A Pensacola mailing address does not necessarily mean you are inside city limits.
The quickest check is your bill or the city's address lookup map on its Sanitation Services page, which shows your collection days. If you turn out to be an ECUA customer, our ECUA bulk pickup guide has the rules that apply to you.
How Special Collection works
- Arrange it first. Call city Sanitation Services at 850.435.1890 or use the online service request form linked from the Special Collection page. The office is open Monday through Friday, 7 a.m. to 4 p.m.
- Ask about the fee. The city charges for Special Collection but does not post the amount on its page. Scheduled collection costs significantly less than unscheduled, which is the main reason to call before anything goes to the curb.
- Describe what you have. Furniture, appliances and small amounts of home repair debris are what the service is for.
- Keep it clear of the street and obstacles. For regular cart pickup, the city asks for 5 feet of clearance around carts and room away from mailboxes, utility poles, parked cars and low wires. Collection routes start at 6 a.m.
What the city won't collect
The Special Collection page says the city does not collect debris containing concrete, bricks, dirt, sod, roofing materials, shingles or any hazardous waste. Disposing of those is the property owner's responsibility, and waste generated by a contractor must be disposed of by the contractor.
The city's sanitation FAQ quotes the city code on materials not acceptable for collection. The list includes items requiring special handling, hazardous materials such as petroleum products, poisons, acids and asbestos, industrial waste, and tree stumps, trunks or limbs larger than 8 inches in diameter and 6 feet long.
For the hazardous items, the city points residents to Escambia County's household hazardous waste program, which accepts paint, chemicals, batteries, propane tanks and electronics free for county residents at the Perdido Landfill drop off.
Yard waste is a separate service
Don't mix branches into a furniture pile. The city collects yard waste weekly at the curb, on a different day from garbage. Yard waste means vegetative debris such as grass, hedge clippings, pine straw, leaves and limbs no more than 6 feet long and 8 inches in diameter. Bigger stumps and trunks fall under the not acceptable list above.
The Mayor's Neighborhood Cleanup
Once a year, each city neighborhood gets a cleanup day between January and October. Sanitation crews collect eligible items left at the curb, and Code Enforcement sweeps the area. As posted, the next one is October 24, 2026; the city's interactive map shows which area it covers.
- Put items out before 7 a.m. on cleanup day, and not sooner than three days before (the Wednesday before).
- Eligible: appliances and electronics, household junk, furniture and mattresses, carpet, grills without propane tanks, bicycles and toys, tires, and old paint and paint cans.
- Not eligible: building materials, household or pool chemicals, herbicides and pesticides, explosives or ammunition, auto parts, dirt or sod, propane tanks, and garbage or yard trash.
- Keep tires and paint cans separate from other debris, and keep piles away from low lines, poles, fences and mailboxes.
If your neighborhood's day is months away, Special Collection or a hauler fills the gap. Our where to dump furniture guide covers the landfill options too.
When to text a hauler instead
Special Collection works when you can get items to the curb and wait for a scheduled date. When the item is upstairs, the date is too far off, or you are moving out this week, text us photos for a price. One couch or one mattress is a normal job, and we can often help with same day junk removal when there's an opening.
Text photos to (850) 273-8546 with your ZIP code and whether there are stairs. We reply with a price and the soonest pickup time, same day when available, and the price is confirmed before we load anything. Mention the website for $20 off your first pickup.