Sodai gomi - what if lots to get rid of?

There's a chance I might be moving out soon, and looking around my apartment, I'm wondering what on earth I'd do with all my sodai gomi items.

Would I have to do the same procedure as for one-off things (call the center, get stickers, etc)? Surely not, as I have a house-full of the usual stuff, so that would take hours on the phone.

Questions:

1. Is there a one-stop way to get all the stuff picked up (either by city hall or a private company)?

2. Can I just hire a small van and take the stuff myself to the gomi center myself? If so, would I still pay a fee, and would I still need to inform the center before taking my stuff?

All advice appreciated. Thanks!

I have done this a few times and each way a little bit differently. Once I just went to the local second hand shop and convinced them to take it for me. Usually you have to pay them, but they were just up the road and I was giving them a fair bit, so I managed to get them to do it for about 1500 yen.
Another time I took some stuff down to the homeless guys living not far away. There were only a few small things and some clothes.
I have also paid money for the guys in the trucks that drive around to take it away. Depending on what you have and the driver, the price can vary quite a lot.
I have never actually used the sodai gomi service but it seems pretty cheap. Just go to your local Ward Office or City Hall to get the information.

If there is any furniture or appliances that could continue to be used, definitely get a second-hand shop to come around and take what they want- far better than sending perfectly good items to the dump. They took our washing machine without charging us anything last year. If it is in good enough condition they may even pay you. Have you considered a "sayonara sale" or even giveaway, advertising through Metropolis or similar?

? Why spend hours on the phone ? You have to take an inventory and then order the appropriate number of stickers accordingly, e.g. Y 300 for a ventilator, Y 1,000 for a sofa, etc.

Thanks for the replies so far.

But what about driving the stuff to the dump myself? Is it ok to do that and would I still have to pay charges?

(by stuff, I mean: bed; desks; shelves; sofa suite; air con; fridge; dining table, etc...

...and then all the smallish things like: stoves; kerosene 18 Ltr cans - too big for normal gomi)

I can't really answer your question about driving it to the dump yourself, but if you ask at your local ward/city office, I am sure they can let you know.
Perhaps just make up a little flyer and putting it in the letter boxes of the other people who live in your building would be a good idea. I am sure you will get rid of a bit of stuff that way.

Jo,

Surprizingly no one has mentioned this so far, but waste policies differ depending on the municipal. So as suggested, the best thing you can do is to discuss this with your local ward office or city hall.

That said, in Yokohama where I live, there is no "dump," so obviously residents can't just "drive" to get rid of waste. Here in our city, typically, a truck comes to pick the waste you booked for. You can request your waste to be "recycled" and sold at one of the "recycle centers" run by our city, but according to my experience, the most useable things get torn into pieces by the truck drivers, right in front of your house. Then I suppose the smashed stuff will be driven to the huge, deep incinerator that is off-limits to citizens (because you don't wanna fall into it anyway). And then the rare ones get driven to the recycle centers where craftsmen do some maintanance, and then a bid is done on a certain date.

Now, if people come driving and bringing their stuff one after another, the recycle center will be packed (that's probably one of the main reasons why stuff gets smashed right in front of you). So what you're booking on the phone is a date to allow drivers to come, people to smash, craftsmen to maintain, and bidding to be done. And the sticker fees are used to cover all these expenses.

Like I've said, this is how Yokohama currently does it and I don't know if it's the same in your city. But generally speaking, it's done quite similarly.

So here is my suggestion. First of all, call or visit your favorite private recycle shop and have them come over and pick up all they can. If you're lucky they will even pay you.

Then for the things left over, place an ad on the Classified section of this very japan-guide.com site. A bunch of foreign residents view this every day, many on their way to Japan. I've gotten rid of a couple of furnitures here myself.

While you're at it, you can ask the landlord to see if you can place an ad outside your apartment or deliver flyiers so that neighbors who are interested can come to pick things up. I once had an oven that even the city wouldn't pick up (!), but the only American in the neighborhood was more than happy to take it home.

And THEN you can phone the city and buy stickers to book for bulk waste. I don't know how huge your apartment is, but it shouldn't take hours to make the call and buy the stickers at a combini.

As for private waste collectors that come around with a microphone on their truck, our city encourages residents not to deal with them, as many trick you and charge you more than you should pay, or they would just dump things elsewhere illegally.

I live in one of the 23 wards of Tokyo, and here when I call up the ward hall to ask for large waste pick-up, they tell me (just to be sure) that there is a dump where I could take the stuff to myself, and I answer thank you but I prefer pick-up because we don't have a car. You still need to pay the fees, but they really sort out stuff well for disposal, recycling, etc.

You should find out from your city/ward office, AFTER trying all those great ideas suggested by Uco :)

But what about driving the stuff to the dump myself? Is it ok to do that and would I still have to pay charges?

(by stuff, I mean: bed; desks; shelves; sofa suite; air con; fridge; dining table, etc...

...and then all the smallish things like: stoves; kerosene 18 Ltr cans - too big for normal gomi)

It might differ from city to city but there is a dump in my city and I've taken trash there a couple of times. It's free and I didn't have to call beforehand. But I can tell you now that they won't accept your air con, fridge, and certain type of metal products.

Just google "your city name + 粗大ゴミ" and you should find all the info you need.

AK wrote;
You should find out from your city/ward office, AFTER trying all those great ideas suggested by Uco :)

Thank you, AK, but in fact, at least in Yokohama, the city/ward office will tell you the same thing. So you can ask the office first or you can try my suggestions first, whichever is fine :) Btw, Yokohama also had a dump where you were free to throw away your things or pick up used ones, but in the attempt to reduce waste, these dumps became no longer valid.