Office furniture is where the free options people rely on at home stop working. The City's bulky pickup is built for households, several big charities turn down corporate furniture, and half the equipment on a desk is e-waste. This guide sorts out what goes where for a home office, a small business or a full office move-out.
Home office or business office? It changes everything
The first question isn't the item. It's who produced it.
A home office is household waste. In the City of Los Angeles, LA Sanitation picks up bulky items like desks, chairs and filing cabinets free at the curb for homes it services, which its pages describe as 1 to 4 unit homes.[1] Furniture is on its accepted list.[1] Book at least one business day before trash day,[1] through MyLA311 or 1-800-773-2489.[1]
A business office is a different stream in every city we checked:
| City | Can a business use City bulky pickup? |
|---|---|
| Los Angeles | Pickup is for homes LASAN services;[1] LASAN also won't take commercial appliances at the curb[1] |
| Burbank | No. The City says business items don't qualify and points to donation, a rental dumpster or a junk removal service[2] |
| Glendale | Businesses are served by private haulers, which handle commercial bulky collection[3],[4] |
| Pasadena | Businesses use private haulers,[5] and those customers ask their hauler about bulky pickup[6] |
If you lease space, your property manager knows which hauler serves the building. Ask what that hauler charges for furniture before you plan around it.
Donating desks, chairs and cubicles
Office furniture is one of the harder categories to give away, because several charities list it by name as something they refuse.
- Out of the Closet won't take office furniture, corporate items, large executive desks, wall units or china cabinets.[7]
- Habitat for Humanity of Greater LA ReStores take furniture with no broken or missing pieces.[8] Drop-off is free and pickup costs $50,[8] and a standard pickup needs everything on a ground floor, in a garage or at the curb.[9] For an upstairs suite, that means moving it down first.
- The Salvation Army generally takes unbroken furniture,[10] with acceptance that varies by location. Call 1-800-SA-TRUCK before booking a pickup.[10]
- Goodwill Southern California lists tables and chairs as acceptable,[11] in clean, sellable condition,[11] but it doesn't pick up.[12]
A matching set of chairs or a clean standing desk has a real chance. Chipped laminate desks, stained task chairs and used cubicle systems are a harder sell, since donation stores need things they can put straight on the floor.
If staff are clearing out work clothes too, Chrysalis takes gently used, laundered professional attire at its San Fernando Valley center, 13545 Van Nuys Blvd. #1 in Pacoima.[13]
Taking apart cubicles and big desks
Cubicles come out easier than they went in if you work in order:
- Empty everything. Drawers, overhead bins and pedestals should be empty and unlocked. Find the keys before the move, not during it.
- Top down. Remove overhead bins and shelves, then the work surfaces and keyboard trays, then the panels.
- Unhook, don't pry. Most panel systems join with brackets or connector posts. Pulling panels apart without finding the connector bends them.
- Bag the hardware. If anyone may reuse the system, tape a bag of screws and brackets to each panel and number the pieces.
- Watch for wiring. Some panels carry power strips or data cable through the base. Have the building shut off power to those runs first.
L-shaped and executive desks usually come apart at the return. Removing the top from the base makes most of them fit through a standard door.
Computers, monitors, printers and toner
Nearly everything with a screen or a circuit board has a rule attached.
- Banned from the trash: TVs, monitors, laptops, computer towers, printers, microwaves and phones are all on California's trash-ban list.[14] Non-working CRT monitors are treated as hazardous waste.[15]
- Wipe the data first. LA Sanitation advises clearing personal data before recycling electronics.[16]
- Find a collector: CalRecycle's eRecycle directory lists approved e-waste collectors.[15] The S.A.F.E. Centers and the County's one-day events serve residents; the County's events don't take business waste.[17],[18]
- Burbank small businesses can use the Recycle Center Drop Zone at 500 S. Flower St., which takes computers, monitors, wires, power strips and brand-name toner and inkjet cartridges.[19] The Drop Zone caps e-waste at 100 lbs per household per year,[19] so call before bringing a whole office's worth.
- Glendale's Recycling Center at 540 W. Chevy Chase Dr. takes computers and TVs free, but printers, fax machines and other circuit-board items are on its fee list.[3],[20]
Batteries need their own trip. Every battery type is banned from the trash in California,[14] which includes the big lead-acid battery inside a backup power unit. Fluorescent tubes from old office lighting are banned too.[14]
Loading day: parking and access
Office cleanouts often happen on busy streets. A few rules help:
- Street-sweeping routes are posted and enforced on sweeping days.[21] Check the signs before you book a morning slot.
- In Burbank, a yellow curb allows loading for up to 20 minutes between 8 a.m. and 6 p.m. unless posted otherwise, and a red curb means no stopping at any time.[22]
Reserve the freight elevator and loading dock with building management, and ask whether they need any paperwork from outside vendors before the day.
Office cleanout checklist
Before the furniture leaves
- Decide who produced the waste: home office (city pickup may work) or business (private hauler or cleanout crew).
- Photograph pieces worth donating and call the charity with the photos.
- Empty and unlock every drawer, pedestal and file cabinet.
- Pull hard drives or wipe devices, and set all electronics aside from the furniture.
- Collect batteries, toner and fluorescent tubes in a separate box.
- Book the freight elevator and loading dock with the building.
- Take down cubicles top to bottom and bag the hardware.
- Check parking signs outside the building for sweeping days and curb colors.
When to call a hauler
For one desk from a spare bedroom, the city bulky pickup is hard to beat. For an office, the math shifts fast: the free city option usually isn't available, charities pass on most of it, and someone has to carry everything down. Hiring a crew makes sense when:
- you're a business and the City's bulky pickup doesn't apply;
- you're out of the space by a lease date;
- it's upstairs, through a lobby or out a loading dock;
- there are cubicles to take apart;
- the furniture, electronics and boxes all need to go the same day.
Legacy has done office jobs before. One customer put it this way:
Ricardo & Rene were stellar. I had office furniture & equipment to be removed. Ricardo is excellent at communicating - quote was immediate, service was timely, pricing reasonable. Besides junk removal they also provide clean up, general construction & handyman repairs.
Another customer, Julie R., wrote on Google: "I recently had some junk removed from my office in Northridge…" For an office, send us photos of each room and tell us the floor and the elevator situation. We'll text back a price for the whole job.