How to get rid of stuff in Kyoto

From the editor

What residents need to know

Where things go in Kyoto

Every option in this guide, arranged by the thing you are getting rid of. A missing name is not a refusal. It means nobody has told us either way, which is worth asking about before you make the trip.

Furniture and anything else too big for an ordinary bag is 大型ごみ: book it, buy the stickers, and put it out on the morning of collection day. Wardrobes and beds must be dismantled and tied before the truck comes.

A futon or mattress is 大型ごみ at the standard per-item fee. A duvet, blanket or cushion is not. Those are ボロ類, and a whole tied 45-litre transparent bag of them counts as one 400-yen item, booked by phone only.

Four categories cannot go through the municipal collection at all, and this is national law rather than city policy: televisions, air conditioners, fridges and freezers, washing machines and clothes dryers. The 家電リサイクル法 routes them back through the retailer who sold you the item, or to one of three designated take-back sites in Fushimi and Minami.

Size decides everything here. A small appliance that fits within 30 × 40 × 40 cm is free to drop off; one centimetre over on any side and it becomes paid 大型ごみ. Personal computers left the city's waste stream in 2006 and go back to their maker instead.

Clothing goes free to the Kamigyo Recycle Station, which takes roughly five 45-litre bags a visit, or to a ward office collection morning, which publishes no limit but turns away futons, pillows and curtains. Bedding and soft furnishings are the ボロ類 class instead, which is paid.

The words Kyoto uses

These are the terms on the city's own pages. They stay in the local language here for the same reason they do on a form: the English version will not get you to the right page.

大型ごみ

Ōgata gomi, 'large waste'. Kyoto City's own name for its bulky-waste collection. This, not 粗大ごみ, is the word on Kyoto's pages, its phone line and its booking site.

粗大ごみ処理手数料券

Sodai gomi shori tesūryō-ken, the disposal fee sticker. Sold in a single 400-yen denomination; buy as many as the quoted fee requires.

持込ごみ

Mochikomi gomi, 'carried-in waste': waste you drive to a clean centre yourself, priced by weight, booked by the day before.

クリーンセンター

Kurīn sentā, the city's incineration plants, which double as its self-haul drop-off points.

エコまちステーション

Eko-machi sutēshon, the environment desk inside each ward and branch office. Sells the disposal stickers and takes back batteries, fluorescent tubes, cooking oil and small appliances.

家電リサイクル法

Kaden risaikuru hō, the Home Appliance Recycling Act. Its four categories are refused by the municipal collection by law.

指定引取場所

Shitei hikitori basho. Designated take-back site for those four appliance categories. Three in Kyoto City.

小型家電

Kogata kaden, small appliances. Free to drop off if the item fits within 30 × 40 × 40 cm; one side over and it becomes 大型ごみ.

敷地内

Shikichi-nai, 'within the premises'. Items left inside your own property boundary may not be collected.

ボロ類

Boro-rui, the soft-goods class: blankets, clothes, pillows, cushions. One tied 45-litre transparent bag counts as a single 400-yen item.

ガラクタ類

Garakuta-rui, the oddments class: irons, hairdryers, toys, kitchenware, small electricals.

Things that catch people out

• Put it out on the MORNING of collection day, by 8am, not the night before. The city says explicitly that putting it out the previous evening invites fly-tipping and disturbs neighbours.
• Do not leave it inside your own property. Items put out within the premises (敷地内に出されている場合) are one of the two reasons the city lists for not collecting. It must be at the roadside point the call centre designated when you booked. The booking site says plainly that the crew will not come in through your gate or onto your land.
• The 粗大ごみ処理手数料券 sticker comes in ONE denomination: 400 yen. A 2,400-yen item needs six of them, and too few stickers is the other reason the city lists for not collecting.
• Write the collection date and your reception number or your name on each sticker, put one set on every item where it can be seen, and keep the backing paper until the item has actually gone.
• Collection runs 8:30am to 4pm and the time cannot be promised. Different items may go on different trucks, so one thing still sitting there at noon does not mean the collection failed.
• Booking is by phone on 0120-100-530, or online at ogomi-kyoto.jp around the clock. An online booking by a first-time user, or by anyone whose address or phone number has changed, is only provisional until they telephone to fix the discharge point, and that call has its own deadline of 16:30 two business days before collection.
• Blankets, clothes and cushions (ボロ類) and small oddments like irons, hairdryers and toys (ガラクタ類) go out in a single tied 45-litre transparent bag for 400 yen (ガラクタ類 may also go in an open box up to 50cm square), but only by phone booking, and a bag that will not tie shut is refused at that price.
• Televisions, air conditioners, fridges and freezers, washing machines and clothes dryers cannot go through this service at all. The 家電リサイクル法 sends them back through a retailer or one of three designated take-back sites in Fushimi and Minami wards.
• One collection can carry at most thirty stickers, which is 12,000 yen of fees. Past that you are booking more than one collection, or driving it to a clean centre, or calling a licensed hauler.

What it costs in Kyoto

What each option charges, in its own words, with the date we last read it. We publish no price of our own: a number we typed would go stale before the sentence it came from did.

Check who is carrying it away

• Tokyo 6 options·4 free·Checked 29 Aug 2026
• Amsterdam 7 options·7 free·Checked 20 Aug 2026
• Barcelona 6 options·5 free·Checked 29 Aug 2026