Junk Removal Cost in the GTA: 18 Companies vs a $23.23 City Fee

We read the price pages of 18 GTA junk removal companies on August 27, 2026. Nine post a firm full truckload price, ten prices in all, because one prices two bin sizes. They run $389 to $779, and the middle of the ten is $624 (the middle prices are $599 and $649, so ($599 + $649) / 2 = $624). Most of that gap is truck size, not markup. Divide each price by the volume the same company publishes and five land between $35.00 and $40.96 a cubic yard, which is a box three feet on every side. One number belongs beside them all: Toronto bills every house $23.23 a year to take furniture off the curb.

What a full truckload costs in the GTA

These are the full load prices as each company prints them. Two are from-prices, one is a range, and only two mention tax.

That list is not comparable. A full load is one company's truck, and no two trucks match. JUSTJUNK holds "15 cubic yards (400 cubic feet)". We-Haul's is "12 ft long x 7 ft wide x 5 ft tall", or 420 cubic feet. Junk 'n' Stuff prints its truck size three times and a price zero times.

The same trucks, priced by the cubic yard

Eight of the 18 publish both a price and the volume behind it. Five of those price a full load at one firm number. The other three publish a range. At 27 cubic feet to the cubic yard, the five work out like this.

The trade looks wild and prices tightly. The cheapest full truck here and the dearest are $229 apart ($729 minus $500). Per cubic yard they are $5.25 apart ($40.96 minus $35.71). Tax is nearly the whole of that gap: $538 x 1.13 = $607.94, and $607.94 x 27 / 400 = $41.04, dearer per cubic yard than every other truck in the table.

A range does more damage. 1-800-GOT-JUNK? prices its large load at "$600 to $1099" for 200 to 400 cubic feet. At best that is $40.50 a cubic yard ($600 x 27 / 400). At worst it is $148.37 ($1,099 x 27 / 200). Its small load band, "$107 to $396" for 50 to 100 cubic feet, allows $28.89 ($107 x 27 / 100) and $213.84 ($396 x 27 / 50). That is 7.4 times inside one row of one table. None of it is hidden. It is just never divided out.

One company makes this argument in public. 1-800-RID-OF-IT writes that "a load size price quote from one company can be less volume or higher cost than another company", works an example to "$34.72 ($309 divided by 8.9 cubic yards)" against "$41.76", and ends: "That's why we post it publicly." Its pricing page posts a $139 minimum, the truck size, and no cost per cubic yard.

Small loads carry the markup

The per-yard price drops hard as the load grows. Canada Junk shows it best, pricing six tiers against one truck of 400 cubic feet.

A sixteenth of that truck costs 2.9 times as much per cubic yard as the whole truck. ClearPath is $74.75 at a quarter load ($299 / 4) and $40.56 full. We-Haul is $51.43 at a quarter ($200 x 27 / 105) and $35.36 full. One pickup beats two.

The same eight cubic yards, seven ways

Eight cubic yards is a published load size, not one we invented: ClearPath sells a "Half Load, Up to 8 cubic yards". For the rest, the price below is the smallest tier of their own truck that holds eight cubic yards, since you cannot buy part of a tier.

The same eight cubic yards runs $350 to $1,099. Unit price is half the story. The rest is rounding: at We-Haul and Canada Junk, eight cubic yards pushes you into a three-quarter load, so you pay for space you never fill.

What the minimum charge buys

Ten companies publish a smallest price. It runs $49 to $445, a nine-fold spread at the bottom of one market.

Some price single items flat. ClearPath charges $99 for a sofa or mattress, $129 for a fridge, $79 for a TV, $349 for a piano. 1-800-GOT-JUNK? publishes averages: $125 for a sofa "based on 6721 junk removal jobs", $101 for a mattress, $130 for a fridge.

The number no company prints beside its price

One fact changes the maths in Toronto. The City charges an approved 2026 annual fee of $23.23 per home for oversized and metal items, "regardless of whether or not the service is used". You pay it now. The same page says the fees "cover the cost for unlimited collection and processing of organics, yard waste, oversized and metal items and electronics". One sofa at 1-800-GOT-JUNK's average of $125 is 5.4 times that fee ($125 / $23.23 = 5.4).

What the $23.23 buys is a list: "Box springs, furniture, lamps, luggage, mattresses, patio furniture, skis, toilets", plus "Appliances, barbecues (no propane tanks), bed frames, bicycles, furnaces, hot water heaters, storage sheds". Take the doors off fridges and ovens. Leave 0.5 metres between items. No appointment, no tag, no item limit. Bulky pieces "do not need to be dismantled". Bed bugs do not disqualify an item: wrap it in plastic and set it out. Carpet has a size rule, bundles under four feet and 20 kilograms.

Timing decides whether it works. For daytime collection, set out before 7 a.m., and no earlier than 8 p.m. the night before. For nighttime collection, after 6 p.m. and before 9 p.m. In a snow storm, hold oversized items until the next date. The rest of the GTA is not worse, just different.

• Peel Region (Mississauga, Brampton, Caledon) collects bulky items free on your garbage day, no appointment, out by 7 a.m. Furniture, mattresses and barbecues are named. Brampton and Mississauga both say Peel runs their collection, and Brampton dates the handover at October 1, 2027.
• Durham Region caps it: "We will take up to two items per collection." Ajax and Pickering need no appointment for furniture, but "metal goods, electronics and porcelain require appointments"; Brock, Clarington, Scugog and Uxbridge need one for everything. Oshawa and Whitby run their own programs.
• Vaughan, in its March 2024 notice, counts each piece "as one item toward the three-item garbage limit", caps it at "68 kilograms (150 pounds)", wants items "kept dry", and can refuse them. Appliances are "by appointment only on Thursdays" and fees apply.

The do-it-yourself floor, if you have a vehicle

Depots charge by weight, not volume, so they are not a like-for-like comparison with a truck price. Toronto's drop-off depots charge $189.96 per tonne for garbage and renovation waste, with a minimum fee of $19 covering the first 100 kg, and a deposit of at least $40 before you unload. The City works the examples itself: "205 kg of garbage costs $38.96" and "800 kg of garbage costs $152.08".

Mattresses got cheaper on July 1, 2026. That rate is $142.40 per tonne, and the City's example is "105 kg of mattresses costs $14.96", at two depots only. Having one collected runs $99 to $159 here. Hazardous waste and electronics are free.

Outside Toronto the floor is lower. Peel's recycling centres charge "a minimum fee of $7", then "14.5 cents per kg", take no cash, and accept "dedicated loads of recycling, metals, electronics, and appliances" free. The 205 kg load Toronto prices at $38.96 costs about $29.73 in Peel (205 x $0.145 = $29.73). York's Elgin Mills depot is "$11 flat fee" up to 100 kg and "$180 per tonne" above, and charges "$20 per unit" for a fridge with no CFC removal sticker. That $20 is the only published price here for handling refrigerant.

When paying for a truck is the right answer

• Renovation debris. Toronto refuses it at the curb: "Baseboards, bathtubs, cabinets, countertops, doors, drywall, fencing, insulation, lumber, plaster, roof shingles, siding, tiles. Take these items to a Drop-Off Depot or find a private company."
• Rubble and soil. The depots refuse those too: "Asbestos, Asphalt, ... Bricks, Cinder blocks, Concrete, ... Gravel, Paving stones, Rocks, Sod and grass clippings, Soil and sand, Stones. Contact a private company." York does take concrete and untreated wood at Elgin Mills.
• Tires. "Tires will not be accepted at Drop-Off Depots until further notice."
• Volume and weight. Two items a collection in Durham, three in Vaughan, 68 kg each, and dry.
• No vehicle. A depot is cheap only if you can lift the load twice and drive it there.

HST, surcharges, and the fine print

Eleven of the 18 never say whether HST sits on top of the price shown. On Canada Junk's full load that is $69.94 ($538 x 0.13 = $69.94), and its page says so: "All pricing subject to 13% HST." Three say tax is included. Gone By Noon puts it as "Tax included, zero hidden charges".

Named extras are rare. Junk Professionals charges "$10/each" for car tires and "$20/each" for truck tires, prices hot tubs and pianos "starting at $299 plus tax", and includes "90 minutes of labor ... per full truck load, additional labor time is $125 per hour for two persons". The same page also says "Every quote includes labor and tax. No add-on fees, ever." Both sentences sit on it. Live Light Cleanouts publishes add-ons: "Floor Sweep & Wash +$200" and "Same-Day Priority +$75".

Heavy material is the carve-out nearly everyone makes. We-Haul warns that "Prices for large amounts of concrete, tile, plaster or soil are extra". BinWorks says "Items with excessive weight are subject to surcharge". TRUCK IT prices mattresses, tires and electronics "separately", and does not say at what.

Five of the 18 publish no load price at all. Astro Junkers runs a 2026 pricing guide with eleven load sizes and no dollar figures, every cell reading "Based on volume". JUSTJUNK teaches the conversion, "A cubic yard = 3ft x 3ft x 3ft, equivalent to 27 cubic feet", then asks for your email.

How to compare two junk removal quotes

• Ask how many cubic yards the truck holds. A half load means nothing until you know. Eleven of the 18 publish it.
• Ask what the minimum buys. The smallest tier is the worst value everywhere, so one bigger pickup beats two.
• Get HST in writing. It is 13 per cent, and most price pages skip it.
• Name what is in the load. Concrete, soil, tile, plaster and tires are priced differently by nearly everyone.
• Check your curb list first. Furniture, mattresses and appliances may be free.