Junk Removal Across Lancaster County, PA

How Lancaster County’s waste system works

• Residents can drop off waste that can’t go curbside, including bulky items like mattresses, furniture and mowers with the gas and oil removed. Disposal rates apply, not every facility takes every material, and open loads must be tarped.^[7][8]
• The Transfer Station Complex at 1299 Harrisburg Pike in Lancaster accepts Lancaster County waste only.^[9]
• The Household Hazardous Waste Facility at the same address is free for Lancaster County residents only, open weekdays, and closed to businesses. It takes liquid paint, fuels, cleaners, pool chemicals, propane tanks up to 20 pounds, and TVs and computers.^[10]
• White goods are accepted at all LCSWMA facilities; the refrigerant is recovered, the metal is recycled, and a fee applies.^[8]
• The Lancaster waste-to-energy plant takes construction debris only in residential pickup-truck loads or smaller.^[8]

Lancaster County housing in numbers

Four towns, four sets of curb rules

• Lancaster: more than half the city’s homes predate 1940 and only about 12% are detached houses. Each unit can set out one oversized item a week, no heavier than two people can lift into the truck.^[11][15]
• Marietta: two-thirds of homes were built before 1940 and 28% of residents are 65 or older. Stickered furniture and mattresses up to 60 pounds can go out two a week, but white goods and tires go only on two bulk dates a year, listed for 2026 as June 4 and November 5.^[12][16]
• Elizabethtown: about a quarter of homes are in buildings with five or more units. One oversized item a week, generally up to 75 pounds, and sleeper sofas, recliner sofas and white goods aren’t accepted as oversized items.^[13][17]
• Ephrata: oversized items up to 50 pounds go with regular trash if they carry a borough tag; for anything heavier, the borough tells residents to contact a private hauler. Ephrata Township next door has a median build year of 1997.^[18][19][20]