Where to Take Junk in Topeka: The Dump, Free Pickup, and Everything Else

The Topeka dump is Rolling Meadows Landfill, at 7351 NW Highway 75 north of town. WM runs it, and it takes household junk, remodel debris and yard waste for a fee based on what you bring and how much it weighs. But before you load a truck, check whether you need the dump at all. If you have Shawnee County Solid Waste trash service, one large item a week, like a couch or a mattress set, goes from your curb for free. Paint, chemicals, batteries and electronics go to the county’s hazardous waste facility on NE 46th, mostly at no charge. Tires, refrigerators and rubble each have their own route.

I haul junk for a living, so these are places I know well. Here’s where everything goes.

What goes where (quick version)

The Topeka dump: Rolling Meadows Landfill

Rolling Meadows takes regular household trash, construction and demolition debris, and yard waste. You pay at the scale based on the type of material and its weight, and WM lists credit and debit cards as accepted payment. The county’s recycling directory notes that every load has to be covered, so bring a tarp and straps.

What it won’t take matters as much as what it will. The county directory lists tires, electronics, tube TVs, paint, oil, batteries, household chemicals, pesticides, propane tanks, fluorescent bulbs, and anything containing refrigerant, which means refrigerators, freezers, window AC units and dehumidifiers. Pull those out before you leave the driveway. It’s a long drive back down Highway 75 with a can of paint.

Hours are the one thing to double-check. WM’s own facility page lists 7 a.m. to 4:30 p.m. on weekdays and only 7 to 9 a.m. on Saturday, while county listings show Saturday hours running until noon. If you’re planning a Saturday run, call first at (866) 909-4458.

One thing worth watching for: WM has hosted a free dump day for Shawnee County residents at Rolling Meadows in past summers. The 2025 event was a Saturday morning in June, limited to one load per household and non-hazardous waste only. If it comes back, it gets announced on local news shortly before.

Free first: what the county picks up at your curb

A lot of people searching for the dump don’t need it. If your trash service is through Shawnee County Solid Waste, the county takes one large item per week, free, set out with your trash on your regular day. Per the county, that includes a box spring and mattress, a couch, or a piece of household furniture. Have it at the curb by 7 a.m.

Yard waste works the same way. You can set out up to 15 bags of leaves or grass a week, each under 45 pounds. Limbs, boards and carpet have to be cut and tied in bundles no longer than 4 feet and no bigger than 18 inches around. With leaf season here, that’s worth knowing.

A few catches:

• Holiday weeks don’t count. The county doesn’t pick up bulky items or yard waste during weeks with a county-observed holiday, so plan around Thanksgiving and Christmas.
• Metal is different. Appliances and other metal items need a phone call to the county at 785-233-4774, and there’s a $65 minimum fee.
• Some things never go in the cart. Tires, dirt, rock, concrete, construction materials, paint, motor oil, car batteries and acids aren’t allowed in household trash.

If you’re a member of a Neighborhood Improvement Association, ask whether a cleanup is on the calendar. Each NIA can get two free county dumpsters a year, and lower-income neighborhoods can qualify for a city-funded curbside cleanup. Those dumpsters don’t take limbs, appliances, metal, tires or hazardous items, but they’ll swallow a lot of everything else.

One honest note about the free curbside item: it’s perfect for a couch. It’s slow for a garage. Twelve big items is twelve weeks.

Paint, chemicals, batteries and electronics

These go to the Shawnee County Household Hazardous Waste facility at 131 NE 46th Street. It’s open Monday through Thursday 7 a.m. to 5 p.m., Friday 7 a.m. to 3 p.m., and the first Saturday of each month from 9 a.m. to noon, except January and July. Call 785-286-4381 with questions. It’s for households, not businesses.

The facility takes paint, stain and varnish, solvents, pesticides and herbicides, pool chemicals, cleaners, motor oil and other automotive fluids, household and car batteries, aerosol cans, fluorescent bulbs, medications, sharps in a hard container, empty propane tanks, and electronics. Electronics drop-off is free, except tube-style (CRT) TVs and monitors, which cost $40 each. They won’t take ammunition or explosives, pressurized gas cylinders, infectious or radioactive waste, or anything in an unlabeled container.

If you’re cleaning out a garage, set up a box for this stuff as you go. Keeping it separate keeps the rest of the pile landfill-legal.

Tires, refrigerators and other problem items

Tires. They can’t go in your trash cart. Tire shops take them for a fee, and the county HHW facility has accepted a limited number per household, so call ahead. The City of Topeka has also run free tire takeback events for residents: two Saturdays in summer 2026, up to 10 tires each, with an ID showing a Topeka address. Watch for the next round.

Refrigerators, freezers, AC units and dehumidifiers. Anything with refrigerant is off the list at the landfill. Your options are the county’s metal pickup (call and ask about refrigerant specifically), a scrap metal yard, or haul-away from the store if you’re buying a replacement. Call a scrap yard before you show up with a fridge; many want the refrigerant handled first.

Washers, dryers, water heaters and grills. Metal without refrigerant. The county’s metal pickup or a scrap yard will take them, and some scrap yards pay a little by weight.

Mattresses. A box spring and mattress counts as your one free curbside item for the week. The ReStore won’t take them, and most donation centers won’t either.

Remodel debris, rubble and brush

Drywall, old shingles, lumber, flooring and cabinets from a remodel can go to Rolling Meadows, which accepts construction and demolition debris. GreenPoint C&D Processing Center at 1405 SE Madison (785-234-6000) also takes construction waste from homeowners and contractors for a fee, and recycles what it can. Concrete, brick and dirt aren’t allowed in household trash, so they need to go to one of those or to a permitted clean-rubble site.

For brush by the trailer load, Garick Biomass at I-70 and MacVicar accepts limbs, leaves, clean lumber and pallets for a fee. Call ahead for hours and rates. If the brush pile is coming from limbs you still need to cut, I can trim and haul in the same visit.

Still good? Donate it

The Topeka Habitat for Humanity ReStore at 121 NE Gordon takes furniture, appliances, cabinets, countertops, doors, windows, lighting, plumbing fixtures, tools and leftover building materials. Drop-offs are Tuesday through Saturday, 9:30 a.m. to 3:30 p.m., and they’ll pick up large items for free if you call 785-783-7670 to schedule. They don’t take mattresses, exercise equipment, electronics, or anything broken.

Donating usable pieces keeps them out of the landfill, and it lightens the load you’re paying to dump.

The honest math: haul it yourself or have it hauled

Hauling it yourself makes sense when it’s one item (put it at the curb), a box of paint cans (drive it to NE 46th), or a single load you can fit in your own truck on a weekday.

It stops making sense faster than people expect. Add up a borrowed or rented truck, tarps and straps, the gate fee, a Saturday morning that may end at 9 a.m., and your back. Then notice that a garage cleanout can easily be three or four stops: the landfill, the hazardous waste facility, the ReStore, maybe a scrap yard. Basements and second floors add stairs to all of it.

That’s the job I do. Junk removal from Brown’s Maintenance is priced by how much room it takes in the trailer, with dump and donation fees built in, so you get one number before anything moves. You point, I load, sort, and make the stops. Anything hazardous gets pulled aside, and I’ll tell you where it goes at no charge. For whole garages, basements, estates and move-outs, see clean outs. Landlords dealing with what a tenant left behind can bundle the haul-out with the turnover repairs.

Rather not make three stops?

Text a photo of the pile to (785) 408-6846. You’ll get a straight number back, usually the same day, and a time that works, evenings and weekends included. I work anywhere in Topeka, I’m fully insured, and the floor gets swept before I leave.