Where does junk actually go in Riverside and the Inland Empire?

The short answer

Most household junk from the Riverside area ends up at one of three county landfills: Badlands in Moreno Valley, Lamb Canyon in Beaumont, or El Sobrante in Corona. But mattresses, appliances, electronics, green waste and usable furniture each have their own paths: recycling programs, special-handling lanes, reuse stores and charities. When JunkRabbit hauls, we try to donate usable items when local charities accept them and we recycle whatever we can. A pickup starts at the $100 order minimum; a sofa is $126.

The three landfills that serve Riverside

Under the county ordinance effective July 1, 2026 to June 30, 2027, routine refuse is $52.68 a ton, hard-to-handle loads $70.26 a ton, with a $43.20 minimum load. On the San Bernardino County side, the county runs its own system of regional landfills and transfer stations, with a residential rate of $13.71 a load up to 300 pounds on its current fee page.

Disposal is cheap here compared with coastal California. That is why, in the IE, the real costs of junk removal are labor, fuel and the distance across a region that runs from Chino Hills to Banning.

Mattresses: a separate lane

Mattresses and box springs do not have to be buried. California's mattress recycling program, funded by a fee collected at retail, runs drop-off sites that take household mattresses at no cost. Riverside County's landfills also accept mattresses free when they arrive separately: up to 5 a day at Badlands and Lamb Canyon, and 2 a day at El Sobrante. Steel springs, foam and fiber can all be recovered. Mixed into a general load at El Sobrante, a mattress is charged at the hard-to-handle rate instead, which is why keeping them separate matters.

Appliances: refrigerant first

Refrigerators, freezers and air conditioners contain refrigerant that must be recovered before disposal. Riverside County applies a $7 per-item surcharge to appliances needing special handling (washers, dryers, refrigerators, stoves, water heaters, A/C units and microwaves). Once the refrigerant is out, appliances are mostly steel, which is valuable scrap. That is why so many of them are recycled rather than landfilled.

Electronics: not for the landfill

TVs, monitors, computers and stereos are excluded from the City of Riverside's bulky pickup and are routed to e-waste recyclers or household hazardous waste collection. County landfills take up to two CRT devices per residential customer per day free, for proper handling. Circuit boards, copper and glass are separated and recovered.

Yard waste and brush: clean-green

California's SB 1383 makes organics recycling mandatory statewide. In practice, yard and green waste from Riverside-area homes should go to the clean-green lanes at Badlands and Lamb Canyon, charged at $47.39 a ton rather than the landfill rate, as long as the load is kept clean, with less than 1% contamination.

That matters in the IE, where large lots in Woodcrest, Norco and Jurupa Valley and foothill properties during Santa Ana wind season generate a lot of brush and branches. On the JunkRabbit price list, yard waste is $88.

Tires, paint and the hazardous shelf

Tires have their own line at the gate: Riverside County charges $6 per tire, up to five a day for residential customers, and San Bernardino County lists $5.31 per tire on its fee page. City bulky programs in Riverside and Corona exclude them, so they usually travel separately. On the JunkRabbit list, a single tire is $22 and a set of four $87.

Paint is accepted on a JunkRabbit pickup, at $30 per 1-gallon can and $52 per 5-gallon bucket. Pool chemicals, pesticides, motor oil and solvents are household hazardous waste: they go to Riverside County's HHW collection, not to the landfill, and they are not a standard pickup item, so ask case by case. A typical garage shelf of three 1-gallon cans and one 5-gallon bucket is $30 + $30 + $30 + $52 = $142.

Usable items: reuse and donation

Riverside County's Department of Waste Resources runs a reuse store, Found It Again, and supports free community clean-up events. Charity thrift stores across the IE take furniture and housewares in good condition.

Our approach is simple and honest: we try to donate usable items when local charities accept them, and we recycle whatever we can. We do not promise that any particular item will be donated, because that depends on its condition and on what local charities are accepting that week.

What this means for your price

Because disposal is part of the flat price, you do not pay a separate dump fee, appliance surcharge or covered-load charge. Loads are tarped, since Riverside County adds $25 to uncovered loads and San Bernardino County doubles the disposal fee for them. A typical garage mix shows how it adds up: a washer, a dryer, a box of electronics and a mattress set, $133 + $128 + $77 + $143 = $481. Each item has its own path out of the truck, and the price does not change because of it. Get yours from a photo on the instant quote page.

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