Furniture disposal in Ottawa: donate it, set it out, or have it hauled.

Furniture in Ottawa has three ways out, and the order matters. Donate it first if it is in good shape: Habitat for Humanity's ReStore offers free pickup for large furniture donations within its service area, Matthew House Ottawa's furniture bank charges for pickup from $150, and Helping With Furniture charges a service fee inside its pickup zone. If it is past donating, the City collects a sofa, a table or a dresser at the curb for free, but each piece counts as one of the three garbage items collected every two weeks, and furniture cannot go out in a yellow bag. The third way is a vehicle: yours, to the Trail Waste Facility, or a crew's. All three charities turn away pieces that are stained, torn or smell of mould, so check yours before you book anything.

Donate it first, if it is worth donating.

The City of Ottawa's Bulky Waste page puts reuse ahead of the landfill and names seven charities that take household goods: Helping With Furniture, Habitat for Humanity, the Matthew House Ottawa furniture bank, CP for CP, House to Home, Mission Thrift Store and St. Vincent de Paul. The same page says some of them provide collection services. Of the ones whose own pages we read on 2026-09-23, only one collects for free.

The three furniture charities set nearly the same condition bar. Matthew House will not take worn furniture with rips, tears, stains or visible pet hair, or anything that smells of mould. Helping With Furniture asks for items that are clean, functional and free from mould, stains or tears. The ReStore turns away anything dirty, damaged, mouldy, rotted or rusted.

If you would not put a piece in a friend's first apartment, a charity is unlikely to take it, and a booked pickup turns into a second disposal problem on the day.

Photograph each piece from the front and the side before you ring anyone. Several of these organisations price or approve a pickup from photos. Measure it too, because Matthew House and Helping With Furniture both set size limits.

Is there a furniture bank in Ottawa?

Yes. Matthew House Ottawa runs one, and its own page describes the job: it redistributes gently used furniture and housewares to families and individuals experiencing furniture poverty. Its warehouse is at Unit 1B, 700 Industrial Avenue, and every drop-off there has to be scheduled and confirmed first, on 613-591-6681 extension 2511. Unscheduled drop-offs may be turned away.

Matthew House takes sofas, armchairs, dressers, wardrobes, night tables, kitchen and dining tables, chairs, coffee tables and bookcases, and beds of every size except king. Desks and TV stands are accepted up to 48 by 24 inches. It does not take cabinets, bookshelves or entertainment units larger than 4 feet wide by 2 feet deep by 6 feet high, office furniture or metal desks, pianos, plastic lawn furniture, or furniture that arrives unassembled.

Helping With Furniture is a registered charity run entirely by volunteers, and it furnishes homes for people in need across Ottawa. It takes sofas and love seats under 7 feet wide, armchairs, dressers, night tables and simple bed frames. It does not take TV units, wall units or entertainment units, futons, rocking chairs or accent chairs, or large desks and china cabinets. Drop-offs are at 1455 Michael Street, Unit 3, on Wednesdays from 6pm to 9pm and Saturdays from 10am to 1pm, and it is closed on long weekends.

House to Home furnishes refugees' homes in the Ottawa region, and it collects gently used, undamaged furniture to do it.

Each charity sets its own mattress rules, and the ReStore takes none. Our mattress disposal guide covers where a mattress can go.

Who picks up donations for free?

Of the charities on the City's list, one says in writing that its pickup is free: Habitat for Humanity Greater Ottawa's ReStore offers free pickup for large furniture donations within its service area, booked online or through a store. It lists wooden, leather and upholstered furniture as usually accepted. It does not take mattresses, box springs or entertainment units, and it asks you to call before donating, because supply and demand sometimes make it stop accepting certain products. You can also drop off at any of its three Ottawa stores, at 250 City Centre Avenue, 768 Belfast Road in the Train Yards and 3 Iber Road in Stittsville. Each donation centre closes an hour before its store does.

The other furniture charities charge for pickup, though older lists online still describe some of those pickups as free. Here is what their own pages said on 2026-09-23.

Matthew House's pickup starts at $150, priced on the size and number of pieces, with no HST charged. Its truck runs Monday to Friday between 10am and 4pm: west and central Ottawa on Mondays and Wednesdays, east Ottawa on Tuesdays and Thursdays, south Ottawa on Fridays, and never on a Saturday. The crew collects from inside the house, and taking a piece apart is available at extra cost. Book on 613-423-2454.

Helping With Furniture picks up only inside its designated zone, and its page says a service fee will apply. House to Home picks up for a fee set from photos of each piece, with surcharges depending on where you live and how easy the access is.

Matthew House says its pickup fees are what keep its trucks on the road and its warehouse open.

Does the Salvation Army pick up furniture?

No. The Salvation Army Thrift Store's own contact page says it does not offer residential pickup and cannot accept furniture donations. Its Donor Welcome Centres take drop-offs of other goods daily.

Mission Thrift Store, also on the City's list, says not all of its stores accept furniture and that pickup is not available at every location, so ring your local store before loading the car.

Which charity is the right one?

There is no single best one. It turns on the piece and on what you want to happen to it.

If you want the furniture to go straight into someone's home, the furniture banks do that: Matthew House, Helping With Furniture and House to Home all give donated pieces to households that need them. If you would rather it be sold and the money go to building housing, that is the ReStore, which resells donations to fund Habitat for Humanity's homes.

Size rules out some options. A sofa wider than 7 feet is outside Helping With Furniture's limit. A large entertainment unit is refused by Helping With Furniture and by the ReStore, and Matthew House only takes one up to 48 by 24 inches. A king-size bed is outside Matthew House's list, which takes beds of every other size.

Receipts differ too. Matthew House issues a gift tax receipt at a predetermined value for each type of item, within 15 business days of the pickup. The ReStore issues tax receipts on request, only for items valued above $100, and only once the item has sold.

If nobody on the list wants it, the City's Bulky Waste page names five free platforms for giving it to a neighbour: the Buy Nothing Project, Bunz, Ottawa Freecycle, Full Circles Ottawa and Karrot. The person who wants it does the lifting. The same page points to the City's Repair Café for anything worth fixing first.

What the curb takes, and how often.

Large items in Ottawa go out at the curb, and it costs nothing. The City's special items page says large items such as sofas, mattresses and furniture are picked up at the curb, and that the item should be out before 7am on your collection day.

There is no separate large item pickup schedule. Furniture goes out on your ordinary garbage day, which the City's Collection Calendar shows. The curbside garbage page says to set it out after 6pm the night before and no later than 7am.

The limit is the catch. Ottawa collects three garbage items every two weeks, and a bulky item such as a piece of furniture counts as one. A sofa, an armchair and a coffee table is your whole fortnight, with no room left for the kitchen bags.

Anything over three normally goes in a City yellow bag, but the City says large bulky items and furniture cannot be bagged, and a bag cannot be attached to the item. So a fourth piece waits for the next collection. Garbage over the limit that is not in a yellow bag is left behind with a courtesy tag explaining why. Our mattress disposal guide works through the same counting for a whole bedroom.

Taking it to Trail Road yourself.

With a vehicle it fits in, the City's Trail Waste Facility on Trail Road takes furniture as residential garbage, by weight. The 2026 rate is $172.70 a tonne, with a flat $43.20 for any load under 250 kg, which is 551 pounds. Past that line the scale charges by weight.

Three lines on the City's rate page change the bill. Trail Road no longer accepts cardboard or plastic packaging, so a flat-pack piece still in its box has to come out of it first, and a load of garbage mixed with recyclable material is charged $345.40 a tonne, twice the garbage rate. And source-separated scrap metal is free, so a metal bed frame kept apart from the garbage costs nothing.

The scale house takes Interac, Visa, Mastercard and Amex, and not cash or personal cheques. Steel-toe boots and a high-visibility vest are required at the main tipping areas. Our Trail Road landfill guide has the hours, the address and the rest of the rate card.

When a crew is the faster way out.

Every option above assumes you can carry the piece and have somewhere to put it. A sofa off a third-floor walk-up, or a whole household being emptied for a move or a sale, is a different job.

That is the work our junk removal crew does. We take single pieces through to full loads across Ottawa, Kanata, Barrhaven, Orleans, Nepean, Gloucester and Gatineau, and same-day or next-day service is available. Taking a bed frame or a shelving unit apart to get it out of the room is part of the work, and doorways, stairs and floors get protected on the way through.

Usable pieces come out of the load and go to donation, not the landfill. A charity still decides what it will accept, so the condition rules above apply to anything we drop off too.

It costs money, and the curb does not. If it is one piece, it is in good shape and you can wait two weeks, set it out or book a charity pickup. If it is a houseful, or there is a deadline, send us photos.

Getting a price.

Call or text (613) 852-4059, or email info@ottawasiterestoration.ca, with photos of what is going. The price is agreed before anything is lifted, and nothing moves on an estimate nobody has looked at.

If a whole house is being emptied for a sale or an estate, our estate cleanout page explains how that job runs.

Sources

• City of Ottawa, Bulky Waste: the charities that take household goods, and the free giveaway platforms read 2026-09-23
• City of Ottawa, Special items: large items such as sofas and furniture are picked up at the curb read 2026-09-23
• City of Ottawa, Curbside garbage collection: three items every two weeks, and furniture cannot be bagged read 2026-09-23
• City of Ottawa, Rates for the Trail Waste Facility Landfill, 2026 read 2026-09-23
• Matthew House Ottawa, Donate furniture: drop-off booking and the warehouse address read 2026-09-23
• Matthew House Ottawa, Furniture Bank FAQs: pickup price, days, areas and tax receipts read 2026-09-23
• Matthew House Ottawa, the furniture it can and cannot accept read 2026-09-23
• Helping With Furniture, Give furniture: what it accepts and its drop-off hours read 2026-09-23
• Helping With Furniture, Request a pickup: its pickup zone and service fee read 2026-09-23
• Habitat for Humanity Greater Ottawa, ReStore: free pickup, store locations and tax receipts read 2026-09-23
• Habitat for Humanity Greater Ottawa, what the ReStore accepts read 2026-09-23
• Helping With Furniture: a registered charity run by volunteers, furnishing homes for people in need read 2026-09-23
• House to Home, Furniture donation pick up: a fee priced from photos read 2026-09-23
• House to Home, Donations: furnishing refugees' homes, and warehouse drop-off read 2026-09-23
• The Salvation Army Thrift Store, Contact: no residential pickup and no furniture donations read 2026-09-23
• Mission Thrift Store, Donate: furniture and pickup vary by store read 2026-09-23

Related reading

• Junk removal in Ottawa
• Estate cleanouts
• Mattress disposal
• The Trail Road landfill
• What junk removal won't take
• What it costs
• All guides

Page last updated September 23, 2026