Estate liquidation and downsizing in Victoria.

What the grey bin won’t take

The City collects garbage in a grey bin and organics in a green bin every two weeks. The grey bin can’t hold furniture, metal, appliances, electronics, batteries, construction waste such as drywall, shingles and wood, concrete, soil, tires, hazardous material, liquids, light bulbs, recyclables or yard waste. Extra garbage goes out bagged, under 15 kg a bag, with a $4 ticket from the Public Service Centre at City Hall, as of November 2026.

The City’s pages describe no bulky-item pickup and point to the CRD’s Hartland depot. At its public drop-off depot, general refuse is $160 per tonne plus a $10 bin fee per visit (the CRD’s own example is 250 kg for $50.00), and wooden furniture is a separate stream at $110 per tonne plus the bin fee, as of November 2026. The City’s curbside page still quotes an older Hartland price, so use the CRD’s figures.

Some of what the grey bin refuses has other drop-off options. The CRD’s Beyond the Curb program took foam packaging, flexible plastics and batteries at the James Bay Market and the Moss Street Market from May to October in 2026, and its free weekend hubs in Oak Bay, Langford and Colwood run year round, 9am to 4pm, as of November 2026.

Donating furniture and household goods

• Habitat for Humanity ReStore, 721 Vanalman Avenue: lists clean, working furniture and electric appliances among what it accepts, and picks up large items within Greater Victoria for a $50 truck fee booked at least a week ahead, as of November 2026. Staff assess items at pickup and may decline them.
• WIN, Victoria Women In Need Community Cooperative: takes furniture by drop-off at its Home Shop, 1803 Cook Street, after you call or email ahead, and staff may refuse items when space is short. Its furniture pickup is paused as of November 2026. The Donation Centre at 555 Ardersier Road takes clothing, linens and housewares, not furniture.
• Salvation Army Thrift Store: the Quadra Street donor centre (3460 Quadra Street) and the Vanalman Avenue donor centre take housewares, books, clothing and small appliances, but not furniture, beds, mattresses or large appliances, and there is no pickup.
• Beacon Community Services, 2644 Quadra Street: donations are accepted Monday to Saturday from 9am to 4:45pm, as of November 2026. Furniture goes through its Sidney shop or a pickup request form, where the driver has the last word once the items are in view.
• Return-It, Unit 4, 765 Vanalman Avenue: takes end-of-life electronics and lists small appliances; call to confirm its hours.

Each organisation sets its own rules and can say no at the door, so our order of work is sell first, donate what’s useful, then clear the rest.

Selling from apartments and houses

About 70% of Victoria households live in apartment buildings: 47.8% in buildings under five storeys and 22.4% in buildings of five or more. For an apartment, an online auction keeps buyers out of the building until a supervised pickup, and a contents buyout means no sale days at all.

The City’s Sign Bylaw has no garage or estate sale clause. It prohibits third-party signs, meaning signs for something other than what’s offered on the lot where they stand, and allows a portable sign on public property only as the Streets and Traffic Bylaw permits. Because the bylaw says nothing specific about sales, ask the City how it applies before you put up a sale sign.