How to get rid of stuff in Milan

From the editor

What residents need to know

Where things go in Milan

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.

Free at the kerb once booked, but dismantled first, and capped at eight pieces with thirty days between bookings. A Ricicleria takes the same things free with no booking, if you can drive there.

Mattresses go through the booked collection or to a Ricicleria, free either way.

Fridges, freezers and air conditioners are RAEE group R1; washing machines, dishwashers and ovens are R2. Both go through the booked collection or to a Ricicleria, which takes one piece per type and one visit a month.

Small appliances up to 25 × 25 cm fit an Ecoisola, and bulbs of any size do, but only if you hold a Lombardy health card, which is what unlocks the bin.

Over 400 yellow street bins across the city, plus a free home collection above a minimum quantity, run with the social cooperative Vesti Solidale. Textiles are taken at only three of the Riciclerie.

Paint and labelled hazardous products go to a Ricicleria, capped at five. Small asbestos items and anything containing mercury have their own free home collection, bookable by telephone only.

Doors, windows and shutters are in scope here, unlike Paris, but at a Ricicleria rather than at the kerb, eight pieces at a time. Inert rubble goes to a Ricicleria too, capped at five sacks, buckets or pieces.

The words Milan 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.

ingombranti

Bulky household items, and the name of the booked collection.

Ricicleria

Milan's recycling centre. This is the city's word, not isola ecologica or piattaforma ecologica, which are used elsewhere in Italy.

Ecoisola

A smart street bin for small electronics and bulbs, NOT a yard. It unlocks with a Lombardy health card.

Carta Regionale dei Servizi

The Lombardy health card. It is what opens an Ecoisola, which makes those bins unavailable to anyone without one.

RAEE

Rifiuti di Apparecchiature Elettriche ed Elettroniche, waste electrical and electronic equipment, sorted into five groups R1 to R5.

al piano

'At the floor', collection from inside your home rather than from the street. It is the paid option.

inerti

Inert construction rubble. Taken at a Ricicleria, capped at five sacks, buckets or pieces.

Things that catch people out

• Dismantle it before it goes out. AMSA requires bulky items to be taken apart, which is unusual. No other city we cover asks for it.
• The free collection is capped at eight pieces, and you can book only once every thirty days.
• Free means at the kerb. Having it carried down from your floor is a paid extra, and AMSA does not publish that price anywhere we could find.
• Book online at servizionlineambiente.gruppoa2a.it, through the PULIamo app, or on the freephone 800 332299, Monday to Friday 8am–5pm, Saturday 8am–noon.
• The Riciclerie are vehicle-entry only. Pedestrian access is contested between AMSA's website and its own brochure, so if you are walking, phone first.
• The Ecoisole, the street bins for small electronics and bulbs, open only with a Carta Regionale dei Servizi, the Lombardy health card. No card, no access.
• Small appliances have to fit 25 × 25 cm. Bulbs have no size limit. Anything larger goes to a Ricicleria or into the booked collection.
• Asbestos and mercury items have their own free home collection, bookable by phone only, not online.
• Clothing has over 400 yellow street bins, plus a free home collection above a minimum quantity, run with the social cooperative Vesti Solidale.

What it costs in Milan

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.

• Amsterdam 7 options·7 free·Checked 20 Aug 2026
• Barcelona 6 options·5 free·Checked 29 Aug 2026
• Berlin 8 options·5 free·Checked 20 Aug 2026