Some things are not a hauling problem. They are a hazardous-waste problem, and the channel is different.
Most of what fills a garage or a basement is ordinary junk, and a general hauling truck can take almost all of it. A small category of items falls outside that entirely, not because a hauler is being precious about it, but because the material is regulated separately from household trash.
Wet paint, solvents, pesticides, motor oil and similar chemicals cannot go in a general hauling truck. These need to go to a county household hazardous waste facility, which is set up specifically to accept and process them — check with your county for their current drop-off arrangements rather than assuming any hauler can take them.
Suspected asbestos-containing material — old insulation, certain floor tiles, some ceiling texture — needs a specialized abatement contractor, not a hauler. This is a health and legal issue as much as a disposal one, and it is worth having material tested before anyone touches it if there is genuine doubt.
Both are excluded on safety grounds rather than convenience. Propane tanks are typically returned or exchanged through a supplier or accepted at specific facilities; ammunition generally needs to go through a law enforcement disposal program or a licensed dealer, not a hauling truck.
This is worth distinguishing from the categories above: refrigerators, freezers and window air conditioners are taken, they just carry a fee because the refrigerant has to be reclaimed properly first. That is a fee item, not an excluded one.
For anything hazardous, the right channel is your county's household hazardous waste program, which exists precisely for the categories a general hauler cannot take. It is worth a call or a look at your county's site before assuming it has nowhere to go.
It is not that no one wants the business. Hauling companies operate under real regulatory and liability limits, and a truck carrying general household junk is not licensed or equipped to also carry hazardous material. A hauler who offers to take it anyway is telling you something about how carefully they operate.
Describe what is going and roughly how much space it takes up — that is most of what decides the quote.
Get a Junk Removal QuoteA rough description is plenty — we will follow up to confirm what it takes to move it.