Can You Place Items On the Curb In St. Cloud For Refuse Pick Up?

CAN WE DO THIS IN ST. CLOUD MINNESOTA?

Is it okay to set stuff by your curb for the garbage truck to pick up in St. Cloud?

Quite often, maybe even daily, as I drive across town and through neighborhoods, I will see items either placed next to garbage cans on garbage pick up day or items next to the street with a homemade sign that says "FREE" on it.

The items are there for a while, typically; but eventually, they vanish.

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THE TEST

Recently, even my neighbors put out a very large couch next to the curb on garbage day. I didn't pay that close attention to see if the garbage truck picked up the couch, but after about 3-4 days the couch disappeared.

So as I was cleaning my house the other day, there were a few things that I decided we didn't have room for anymore, and I knew they wouldn't fit into the bins.

GOODBYE 

I took my full recycling and my full garbage bin out on a Wednesday night so the early truck could pick up my garbage around 6 am the next morning. I also put out 4 items that I had no use for anymore and was hoping that when I got home from work, I would find that the garbage bins were empty, and the four items that I left right next to my garbage bins would also be gone.

When I arrived at my home, the garbage bins were empty, but sadly 3 out of the four items were still there.

I assume that someone took the chair as a rolling stool since it had no back to it. That left three things with nowhere to go; the garbage truck didn't seem to even touch the items.

FUNNY WHAT A LITTLE RESEARCH CAN DO

So I started doing some research. I went to the city of St. Cloud's website and found this information.

SPECIAL PICK UPS

The city of St. Cloud will do what they call a 'special pickup' for special items such as couches, recliners, mattresses, box springs, carpeting, tables, sinks, toilets, lumber, etc. However, for them to pick those items up, you must call one day ahead of the pickup and schedule it.

To arrange a special pick-up for the St. Cloud area, you must be a customer of the city of St. Cloud refuse service, which I am, and you must call them a day ahead of the pickup at the Public Works Department. 320.650.2900.

The special pick-up service is offered throughout the year, and if possible you need to bag, bundle, or box your items and stack them neatly next to your garbage containers on the day of your normal refuse pick-up.

I also learned that there is no limit to the number of special pickups you can have throughout the year! This is a game-changer! I've had items in my house that I've held onto, simply because I thought I had no way of getting rid of them. Little did I know that the city of St. Cloud would make it so easy. All I had to do was ask this question a little earlier, and my items would have been happily on their way.

Now that I know this information, I'll probably be calling them a lot more often, but just knowing that they make it pretty simple for you to get rid of things you don't need, makes this seem much easier than I originally anticipated.

If you have any questions about this service, simply click HERE and you can learn all about it.