Appliance Removal in Raleigh & the Triangle

How much does appliance removal cost in Raleigh?

Flat, photo-quoted, and the disconnect, the carry-out, the drive and the recycling are already inside the number. Appliances price by what they are and what they weigh — here is the whole ladder, from a countertop microwave to a French-door refrigerator.

Does the City of Raleigh pick up appliances?

Not with your trash — and this is the one place where the rule is genuinely state law, not a policy preference. North Carolina bans white goods and appliances from landfill disposal outright. They sit on the same statewide ban list as televisions and computers, whole tires, lead-acid batteries, used motor oil, yard trash, aluminum cans, #1–7 rigid plastics, pallets, and fluorescent and mercury-containing lamps. A refrigerator legally cannot be buried, so a hauler who "takes it to the dump" is either lying or breaking the rules.

Because of that ban, Raleigh Solid Waste Services runs appliances as a separate special-item pickup at $52, scheduled in advance rather than collected on your normal route (919-996-3245). It works — for a specific kind of customer. Here's what it requires of you: disconnect the unit yourself, empty and defrost it, secure the doors, and move a 250-to-300-pound appliance from the laundry room or the back of the garage, down the driveway, to the curb. Then it stays at the curb until the scheduled truck arrives, which in Cary, Apex, Holly Springs, Wake Forest and Brier Creek means an HOA-visible appliance parked on your street for a day or more — the exact thing those covenants exist to prevent. And it's a City of Raleigh service: if you're outside city collection, in an apartment complex with private hauling, or in one of the surrounding towns, it isn't offered to you at all.

The genuinely free option is the other direction: the Durham Waste Disposal & Recycling Center takes appliances and scrap metal at no charge. We'll say that plainly, because it's true and because it's the right answer for some people. It just isn't a service — it's a destination. Free at the gate still means you supply the truck, the appliance dolly, the ratchet straps, the second set of hands, and the Saturday. And neither the city pickup nor a self-haul solves the part that's actually regulated: the refrigerant in a fridge or freezer has to be recovered by a certified tech before the sealed system is scrapped. We handle the disconnect, the carry, the recovery and the recycling as one flat number, from inside the house.

What happens to your appliance after pickup

Because of the state ban, "recycled" isn't marketing here — it's the only legal route. Your appliance goes to metal recycling, where the steel cabinet, the copper in the motor and the aluminum are recovered and sold back into the supply chain rather than buried. The Durham Waste Disposal & Recycling Center accepts appliances and metal free, which is a big part of why appliance hauling in the Triangle can be priced honestly: the disposal side costs us far less than a landfill tip, and the price you're paying reflects labor and compliance, not a hidden dump fee.

Sealed-system units — fridges, freezers, window and portable ACs, dehumidifiers — get one extra step. EPA rules require the refrigerant to be evacuated and captured by a certified technician before the unit can be crushed or shredded, because venting it is both illegal and genuinely bad for the atmosphere. That recovery costs real money and we absorb it inside the flat price; you'll never see it show up as a "freon fee" at the door the way some volume haulers add it. If the appliance is newer and still working — the perfectly good second fridge that just doesn't fit the new kitchen — tell us, and we'll route it toward donation instead, where Habitat ReStore locations across Wake, Durham and Orange counties can take usable units.

When people call us for appliance removal

• Kitchen remodel — the old range, dishwasher and fridge out on demo day, before the cabinets arrive. Very common in Garner and mature Cary neighborhoods.
• The unit died on a Thursday — new one lands Friday, the delivery crew won't take the old one, and you need the space clear by morning.
• The second garage fridge — every Triangle house seems to have one, and it always outlives its usefulness by about six years.
• Apartment and rental turnover — Morrisville and Brier Creek move-outs where a unit has to be empty and clean by the lease date.
• Estate and downsizing clear-outs — a Hayes Barton or Five Points home where the appliances go with everything else, donation-routed where possible.
• Water heater replacement — the plumber installs the new one and leaves the old tank standing in the garage.

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