How to get rid of stuff in Rio de Janeiro

From the editor

What residents need to know

Where things go in Rio de Janeiro

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.

Book on 1746 and keep the material INSIDE your gate, within fifteen metres of the entrance, at street level. Putting it on the pavement without authorisation risks a fine rather than a collection.

Counts as one of your bens inservíveis. Entulho and bens inservíveis cannot go in the same request, pick one type at a time, and wait twelve days after a collection before booking the next.

The caps are specific: six unwanted items, dropping to two for heavy things like a fridge or a sofa. Someone has to be there to sign the service order when the truck arrives.

Electronics go to a Posto de Entrega Voluntaria, the city's drop-off points. No fee is published for them and the city never uses the word free, so we do not use it either. The Exercito de Salvacao will collect working items from your home if you arrange it first.

One route in this guide, and it comes to you. The Exercito de Salvacao collects donations by arrangement and wants things clean and still usable. No fee is published for the collection. If Rio has a textile drop-off worth listing, we have not verified one yet.

The words Rio de Janeiro 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.

bens inservíveis

Unwanted household goods, the furniture-and-appliances half of COMLURB's free removal. Six items per household, dropping to two for anything heavy like a fridge, a sofa or a wardrobe, and beds and wardrobes have to be dismantled and tied.

entulho

Rubble from small building works, the other half of the free removal, and never in the same request as bens inservíveis. Plastic bags of up to 20 litres, maximum 150, no raffia or feed sacks; up to 150 whole tiles or bricks; branches tied in bundles up to 1.5 metres, maximum 12.

COMLURB

Companhia Municipal de Limpeza Urbana, the city's cleaning company. It runs the free removals and the drop-off posts, and it accredits the private skip firms.

Posto de Entrega Voluntária (PEV)

Rio's name for a staffed drop-off post. Ten of them, each with containers for paper, glass, plastic and metal plus two skips for rubble and unwanted goods, and a COMLURB worker on site.

ecoponto

Not Rio's word, whatever a search result tells you. São Paulo calls its drop-off yards ecopontos; searching Rio's own city portal for it returns nothing at all. Here the term is Posto de Entrega Voluntária.

1746

The city's service line and portal, open 24 hours, also on WhatsApp at 3460-1746. It is where a free removal is booked, and collection follows within ten working days, Monday to Saturday.

calçada

The pavement, and the distinction that costs money here. COMLURB wants the material inside your gate, within 15 metres of the entrance and at street level; putting it on the calçada without their authorisation risks a fine rather than a collection.

porteiro

The building's doorman. Somebody has to be there to sign the service order when the truck arrives, so he is the person to tell that a collection is coming.

síndico

The manager of a residential building. Along with the porteiro, the person to warn about a booked collection, since the service order has to be signed when the truck arrives.

caçamba

A skip. It is the route for a contractor's job, for a business, or for anything over COMLURB's household limits, none of which the free removal covers. A private skip must be taken away within 48 hours of being placed, or within 8 hours once it is full.

Caçamba Legal

COMLURB's accreditation scheme for skip companies, with a published list of accredited firms.

catadores

Waste-picker cooperatives. Recyclables handed in at a Posto de Entrega Voluntária go on to them rather than to landfill.

CEP

The Brazilian postcode. Door-to-door donation collections are scheduled by CEP, so it is the first thing you will be asked for.

Things that catch people out

• Do NOT put the material on the pavement. COMLURB wants it inside your gate, within 15 metres of the entrance and at street level, putting it on the calçada without their authorisation risks a fine.
• If stairs, a ramp or a difficult street make that impossible, wait for COMLURB to contact you and authorise pavement placement. Only then.
• Someone has to be there to sign the service order when the truck arrives, so tell the porteiro or síndico it is coming.
• Entulho and bens inservíveis cannot go in the same request, pick one type at a time, and wait twelve days after a collection before booking the next.
• The caps are specific: 150 bags of rubble at 20 litres each, or six unwanted items, dropping to two for heavy things like a fridge or a sofa. Beds and wardrobes must be dismantled and tied.
• Book on 1746. It runs 24 hours, or by WhatsApp on 3460-1746. Collection comes within ten working days, Monday to Saturday, 7am to 10pm.
• Businesses, contractor jobs and anything over the limits are not covered. Those need a caçamba company accredited by COMLURB, and COMLURB publishes the list.

What it costs in Rio de Janeiro

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.

• São Paulo 5 options·4 free·Checked 18 Aug 2026
• Amsterdam 7 options·7 free·Checked 20 Aug 2026
• Barcelona 5 options·4 free·Checked 18 Aug 2026