Eco-Friendly, Recycling & Sustainability·October 15, 2026
How Fred's Recycles Junk So San Diego Prices Stay Low
By Fred Siegel, Fred’s Junk Removal · San Diego 92111
Loading the truck is not the end of the job. Fred's picks up junk at homes and businesses in San Diego, then takes the recyclable part to the right place. Electronics, appliances, scrap metal, cardboard, mattresses, and box springs each have a drop-off. Only what cannot be recycled goes to the landfill.
These three loads from one stretch of work show how that actually looks. Boxes from a side yard. Mattresses pulled off a mixed load. A refrigerator unloaded at an appliance yard.
Cardboard
Boxes leave the side yard, then skip the landfill
This side yard was full of boxes, foam, and packing trash. Fred's crew loaded it and left the walkway clear.
Those boxes did not go to the dump. They went to a cardboard recycler, and the crew tossed them onto the paper pile.
Mattresses
Mattresses and box springs get pulled for recycling
Mattresses and box springs come off the mixed load and go on pallets. San Diego has mattress recycling drop-offs, and that is where these go.
A mattress in a landfill is a wasted dump fee and a wasted bed.
Appliances
Refrigerators go to an appliance recycler
A refrigerator comes off the truck and lines up with the other fridges. The metal and the cooling unit are handled there, not buried.
Washers, dryers, and other scrap appliances take the same kind of trip.
Recycling is why the price stays lower
The landfill charges by the ton. Every box, mattress, and fridge we divert is weight we do not pay to dump. Fred recycles so much of the daily haul that the dump bill stays smaller than it would be if the whole truck went in the pit. We pass that savings on. That is one reason Fred's prices are lower than other junk removal services in San Diego.
If it can be recycled, we would rather recycle it. Text a photo of what you need gone, or start with the price list, TV and e-waste recycling, or appliance removal.
