How to get rid of stuff in Paris

From the editor

What residents need to know

Where things go in Paris

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.

Booked kerbside collection within 48 hours, free, or free at an Espace tri if you can get it there. Emmaüs Défi will collect furniture that is still sound, though they need a week to ten days' notice.

Mattresses go through the encombrants booking like any other bulky item, or to an Espace tri. If the furniture has bed bugs you are obliged to declare it when you book.

Twelve categories of large appliance have left the kerbside service: fridges, freezers, ovens, hobs, washing machines, dishwashers and the rest are collected free from inside your home by a state-approved scheme, so nothing has to come down the stairs.

Computers, phones and small electricals go to an Espace tri, to the Trimobile, or into the booked encombrants collection.

Textiles and shoes are refused at the Espaces tri, a genuine trap. The Trimobile takes them, and Emmaüs Défi collects from home.

Paint, solvents, glues and varnish go to an Espace tri, capped at 20 litres, or to the Trimobile. Motor oil is capped at 10 litres and cooking oil at 5.

Since 1 January 2025 the Espaces tri refuse building waste, and the kerbside service never took it. Correctly sorted building waste is taken free at builders' merchants under the PMCB scheme; anything unsorted still costs.

The words Paris 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.

encombrants

Bulky household items, and the name of the free collection you book on 3975.

Espace tri

Paris's recycling yard. The signage now says Espace tri, with déchèterie demoted to a parenthesis.

déchèterie

The older word for the same place. Still in use, but the city has moved to Espace tri.

Trimobile

A truck that parks at published spots roughly monthly and takes small bulky items, paint, batteries, and textiles, which the fixed yards refuse.

éco-organisme

A state-approved body running a producer-responsibility scheme. Ecosystem runs the free at-home collection of large appliances.

PMCB

Produits et Matériaux de Construction du Bâtiment, the scheme under which sorted building waste is taken free at builders' merchants.

Things that catch people out

• Book first, on 3975 or at teleservices.paris.fr/ramen, the collection is free but it is not a walk-up service, and you have to declare you are a Paris resident.
• Put it out no earlier than three hours before your agreed slot, and make the booking reference visible on the item. The arrêté of 12 March 2025 is explicit about both.
• Early deposit has its own tariff of 35 euros. Fly-tipping with a vehicle is 200 euros and the vehicle may be confiscated.
• There is a 3 cubic metre cap per collection, and an obligation to declare bed bugs if the furniture has them.
• Twelve categories of large appliance no longer go to the kerb at all. A state-approved scheme collects them free from inside your home. No carrying anything downstairs.
• Since 1 January 2025 the Espaces tri refuse building waste entirely, and the kerbside service never took it. Sorted building waste goes free to builders' merchants under a separate scheme; unsorted still costs.
• The Espaces tri need no booking but do need ID and proof of address, and they cap you at 3 cubic metres and six visits per calendar quarter.
• Textiles and shoes are refused at the Espaces tri but accepted by the Trimobile, the truck that parks at published spots roughly monthly.

What it costs in Paris

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 5 options·4 free·Checked 18 Aug 2026
• Berlin 8 options·5 free·Checked 20 Aug 2026