Year-round: Republic Services, by phone, several days ahead
Kent's residential hauler is Republic Services(contract since mid-2023). For a couch or mattress outside the city cleanup window, the city's own guidance is to call Republic several days before your collection day at (800) 247-3644and schedule a bulk pickup. Worth knowing before you call: Republic doesn't publish its Kent bulk-item limits or fees anywhere online, so get the price and the item count confirmed on the phone rather than assuming it's free.
The curb-timing rule that catches everyone
City ordinance says nothing goes to the curb before 7:00 PM the night before collection, and containers come back in by 7:00 PM on collection day. Discarded furniture sitting curbside outside those windows is a ticketable violation (fines start at $10–$40 and can escalate), and the city's own enforcement data says 92% of documented trash violations involve rental properties. Check current rules at kentohio.gov or call the Service Department at (330) 678-8105.
Once a year: the city's Spring Cleanup
Each spring the city collects bulky items curbside, one quadrant per week. In 2026 it ran May 4 through May 29(NW, NE, SE, then SW), with items required at the curb by 7:00 AM on the Monday of your section's week. The dates land in the city's Tree City Bulletin each year.
What Spring Cleanup takes:
- ✓Furniture, electronics, toys, bikes, and carpet, sized for two people to lift
- ✓Upholstered furniture, mattresses, and carpet, wrapped in plastic
- ✓Appliances (separate pile, fridge and freezer doors removed); scrap metal goes with them
- ✓Freon items, but only if you call the Service Department (330-678-8105) before your week
- ✓Construction debris cut to 4 feet, bundled, under 50 pounds, or in sturdy containers
What it refuses (tagged and left at the curb):
- ✗Regular household trash and yard waste
- ✗Tires (residents-only tire drop at 930 Overholt Rd instead, 4 per household)
- ✗Household hazardous waste: paint, batteries, motor oil, pesticides, gasoline, solvents
- ✗Pianos (the city names them specifically, due to weight)
- ✗Concrete, railroad ties, propane and pressurized tanks, loose or broken glass
Miss your quadrant's week, and the next city pickup is a year away.
Self-haul: CHaRM, donation, and the yard-waste site
For appliances, electronics, and other hard-to-recycle items, Portage County's CHaRM center (3588 Mogadore Rd., Kent)takes them from county residents (ID required): Mondays or Thursdays 10 AM–2 PM, first Monday of the month until 5 PM. Posted fees when we checked: $20 for TVs and CRT monitors, $10 for printers, 50¢ per tire(cash or check). It is not a trash service, and it doesn't take furniture. For usable furniture, the county's own answer is donation: our Portage County donation directory covers who takes what, including Habitat ReStore Kent. The city's Plum Creek yard-waste site handles brush and leaves only, no trash or debris.
Kent State students: the university's Give-N-Go program collects usable furniture, rugs, and appliances in residence-hall lobbies from spring break through graduation, routing them to local charities. It has kept hundreds of tons out of the landfill since 2014.
Where we fit in Kent
The gaps in Kent's system are specific: a lease turnover in July when Spring Cleanup is ten months out, a load Republic quotes awkwardly by phone, anything the cleanup refuses (that piano, the shop full of paint cans we can point you to HHW for), or a house full of furniture that can't legally sit at the curb before 7:00 PM. We come inside, carry it out, and it's gone the same day, no quadrant schedule, no plastic-wrapping your own mattress, no ticket risk. Usable pieces go to donation first, and the price is confirmed face-to-face before we start. See the Kent service page or how our pricing works.