Oversized Trash (Sodai Gomi) and the Prepayment Sticker
Sodai gomi Japan is the municipal system for oversized household trash: book a pickup, pay a per-item fee with a prepayment sticker, and set the item out on the assigned morning.123 Miss any of those three steps and the item stays on the curb.
Procedures, fees, and requirements can change. Confirm current details at your city or ward office site (Shibuya City and Yokohama City pages are used as examples in this article).
Overview
The 粗大ごみ (sodai gomi, "oversized trash") category covers household items too large for regular collection, such as furniture, futons, bicycles, and suitcases.12 Every municipality runs its own version of the same five-step flow: apply to the reception center, receive a date and fee, pay with a sticker or cashless payment, attach the proof visibly, and set the item out on time.123
The details vary by city, and that variation is the whole point of this article. Size thresholds, fees, booking channels, and deadlines below are Shibuya, Yokohama, or Fukuoka examples. Confirm each one with your own city before acting.
What counts as sodai gomi
Whether an item is oversized depends on where you live, not on what the item is. Measure the longest side before booking, and check your city item list for the fee class.
Size rules differ by city
In Shibuya, sodai gomi means household waste with one side over 30 cm.4 The English guide phrases the same rule as furniture larger than 30 cm square plus listed examples such as bicycles and ski boards.1
In Yokohama, the rule splits by material: metal items with the longest side 30 cm or more, and all other materials such as plastic or wood with the longest side 50 cm or more.2 In Fukuoka, the test is practical instead of numeric: items too big for the city designated bag that cannot be carried one-handed without tearing it.3 In Shibuya, items with one side over 180 cm must be cut or dismantled to 180 cm or less before set-out.4
Typical items and borderline cases
Typical sodai gomi includes furniture, futons, bicycles, baby strollers, suitcases, and small household appliances that no recycling law covers.12 Shibuya explicitly lists bicycles, ski boards, and household electrical appliances excluding the designated recycling-law items.1
The universal exclusion matters more than any inclusion list. TVs, air conditioners, refrigerators and freezers, washing machines and dryers, and PCs are never city oversized trash in any municipality.1235 They follow separate retailer or maker take-back routes described further down.
The standard procedure: book, pay, set out
No city collects oversized items on a walk-up basis. The reservation comes first, and everything else (fee, sticker, date, set-out spot) follows from it.123
The flow looks like this (citations for each step sit in the sections below).123
Booking the pickup
Apply by phone, online, or (in Shibuya) LINE. Shibuya takes phone bookings Monday to Saturday including holidays, 9:00 a.m. to 5:00 p.m. at 03-6834-4777 (as of 2026-09-06; confirm current details with Shibuya City).14 Yokohama takes phone bookings Monday to Saturday including holidays, 8:30 a.m. to 5:00 p.m. (as of 2025-03-01).2 Fukuoka takes phone bookings Monday to Saturday 9:00 a.m. to 5:00 p.m. at 092-731-1153 plus a 24-hour internet desk (as of 2026-09-06).3
Lead time is the number to plan around. Yokohama states around 2 weeks from application to collection (as of 2025-03-01).2 Fukuoka states up to 1 week after the request date (as of 2026-09-06).3 Across cities, plan on roughly 1 to 4 weeks, with the March to April moving season running longest (as of 2026-09-06).236
Two booking details catch people out. In Yokohama, items missing from the online list require a phone application (no online shortcut for odd items).2 In Fukuoka, cancellations go through the reception center at least two days before the scheduled date.3
Set-out day mechanics
Put the item at the designated location on the assigned day, sticker visible, and nothing earlier. In Shibuya the item is collected at the applicant residence rather than the regular collection site, and condo residents place it near the roadside on the first floor.1
Morning deadlines are strict. Yokohama requires set-out by 8:00 a.m., with collection running even on rainy days.2 Fukuoka requires set-out before 8:30 a.m. at the designated site, with afternoon collection and no need to be present.3 In Shibuya, set items at the home entrance by 8:00 a.m. for sequential collection between 8:00 a.m. and 4:00 p.m.4 Night-before set-out breaks the local rule and risks complaints or a lost sticker.
Collectors leave items with no reservation or no sticker in place. Fukuoka lists items without a ticket as uncollectable, so a second booking and a second wait follow any failed set-out.3
The prepayment sticker
The 有料粗大ごみ処理券 (yūryō sodai gomi shoriken, "paid oversized-waste disposal ticket") is the proof of payment, bought before pickup at a convenience store or designated retailer.123 Write your name (or the allowed code or initials) on it and stick it where collectors can see it without moving the item.12 In Shibuya the tickets come as A tickets at 200 yen and B tickets at 300 yen, combined to match the quoted fee (as of 2026-09-06).47
Stickers are city-specific. Shibuya stickers sell at ward konbini and shops bearing the handling-store sticker plus the ward cleaning office, and other municipalities stickers cannot be used in Shibuya.7 Shibuya revised its sodai gomi fees on 2023-10-01, while pre-redesign tickets remain valid (as of 2026-09-06; confirm current details with Shibuya City).7 In Yokohama, buy at designated financial institutions in the city, post offices, or listed konbini chains, and keep the receipt until collection since unstamped stickers are invalid (no stamp means no payment).2
Denominations and matching the quoted fee
Combine tickets to match the exact fee quoted at booking. Fukuoka sells 300, 500, and 1,000 yen tickets, priced by size, weight, and item, and tickets are nonrefundable so buy only after contacting reception (as of 2026-09-06).3
Expect roughly 300 to 3,000 yen per item by size (as of 2025-12-10; confirm current figures with your city fee table).8 Shibuya representative fees below show the band in practice.
| Item (Shibuya example) | Fee | As of | Notes |
|---|---|---|---|
| Chair (excluding sofa) | ¥400 | 2025-12-108 | Smallest band |
| Futon and bedding set | ¥400 | 2025-12-108 | Roll and tie per city instruction |
| Bicycle under 16 in / 16 in and over | ¥400 / ¥900 | 2025-12-108 | Size split |
| 1-seat sofa | ¥900 | 2025-12-108 | Larger sofas cost more |
| 2-seat, 3-seat or larger, sofa bed | ¥2,300 | 2025-12-108 | Per piece |
| Single bed frame (mattress excluded) | ¥1,300 | 2025-12-108 | Mattress priced separately |
| Desk | ¥1,300 | 2025-12-108 | Per piece |
| Box furniture (by width plus height total) | ¥400 to ¥3,200 | 2025-12-108 | Five size bands, A to E |
Cashless payment where available
Some cities now let online applicants skip the konbini run. In Shibuya, internet or LINE applicants can pay cashless by listed credit cards or PayPay, while phone applicants still use paper stickers (as of 2026-09-06).4 Cashless payment closes 7 days before the collection date, and later changes or cancellations go through the online change page with refund timing set by the payment provider.4
Where e-payment replaces the sticker, follow the label instruction instead: write the collection date plus your name or application number large in oil-based marker on any paper, and tape one label firmly to each item.4
Home appliance recycling law items
The 家電リサイクル法 (kaden risaikuru hō, "Home Appliance Recycling Law") covers four household categories nationwide: air conditioners; TVs (CRT, LCD, plasma, organic EL); electric refrigerators and freezers; and electric washing machines and dryers.5 Business-use equipment is excluded from this consumer flow.5
Disposing of any of the four always costs two charges borne by the discharger: the 収集運搬料金 (shūshū unpan ryōkin, "collection and transport fee") set per retailer, plus the リサイクル料金 (risaikuru ryōkin, "recycling fee") set per maker.5 Current recycling fees vary by type, size, and maker on the Home Appliance Association price list, so treat any printed figure as a dated example.
Dated examples (maker-dependent basis 2016-04-01; confirm current figures with the Home Appliance Association price list) run: air conditioner ¥972; TV 15 in and under ¥1,836 and 16 in and over ¥2,916; fridge and freezer 170 L and under ¥3,672 and 171 L and over ¥4,644; washer and dryer ¥2,484 (as of 2016-04-01).9
Retailer-handled routes
The default path runs through a shop. When replacing with a new product, ask the retailer selling the new product to take the old one, and when disposing only, ask the retailer that sold the item.5 When the seller is unknown, follow the municipality guidance or consult a nearby retailer.5
Shibuya states the same split: ask the original or replacement retailer, and if pickup is impossible, apply to the Home Appliance Recycling Center, open Monday to Friday including holidays 9:00 a.m. to 5:00 p.m. at 0570-087-200 with online application available (as of 2026-09-06).1
Bring-in route and the recycling ticket
Carrying the item yourself avoids the collection and transport fee.5 Pay the recycling fee at a post office using the home-appliance recycling ticket, filling in the maker plus screen size or capacity, keep the stamped slip, and bring the item plus ticket set to the designated collection site.5 Confirm business days and hours in advance since no reservation is needed.5
Do not disassemble the four items or strip parts first. Degraded units can be refused as impeding re-commercialization, so hand them over whole.5
PCs and small electronics
PCs go to their makers, not to the city. Apply through the maker contact and pay the recycling fee.15 Fukuoka lists PC main units and displays as city-uncollectable and points to a separate page.3
Other home electronics outside the four-item law often fall under small-appliance recycling with city-specific item lists and methods, while remaining electric devices are general waste per municipal guidance.5 Collection boxes at ward offices, some supermarkets, and electronics or hardware stores take many small appliances, usually free.6
Alternative paths: sell, reuse, donate
When usable items still have life in them, selling or donating beats stickering every piece, especially at move-out. List resale items early since pickup slots and buyer schedules both tighten in peak season.
Recycle shops and purchase-for-resale pickup
Some recycle shops pick up for free when the item has resale value, and the purchase-for-resale industry buys qualifying furniture outright.6 Shibuya itself points residents to a bulk-assessment reuse service for resalable goods before they pay any disposal fee.4 Pricing is per shop with no single public table, so treat any quoted range as a shop offer rather than a municipal fee.
Use only licensed or city-listed operators and get a written quote first. METI warns that some itinerant or flyer-based collectors work without waste-collection permission, with documented cases of illegal dumping, improper processing, fires, and fee disputes.5 Household waste may only go to a municipally permitted or commissioned collector.5
Reuse corners and donation channels
Cities run their own reuse loops alongside collection. Shibuya refurbishes unwanted wooden furniture for resale, and its Mitake Reuse Corner accepts furniture pickups with a handling fee slightly below the large-sized trash fee (as of 2026-09-06; confirm current figures with Shibuya City).1 Fukuoka asks residents to consider donating reusable items and points to city reuse-shop information.3 Yokohama notes that oversized items in good condition may be reused, so applicants who want destruction must say so at booking.2
Good to know
Booking too late in March and April
Peak moving season fills collection slots first. The primary sources run on a 1 to 2 week rhythm in normal months, and move-season demand stretches the wait, so a lease end date with no pickup booked becomes a storage problem.236 Book the week the move-out date firms up, not the week before.
Putting items out without booking or sticker
An item with no reservation or no visible sticker is not a pickup, it is storage on the street. Every primary flow requires advance application plus a paid sticker or e-payment label, and Fukuoka names ticketless items as uncollectable.123 A failed set-out costs a second booking and a second wait.
Assuming appliance pickup works like sodai gomi
New arrivals most often trip on the four appliances and PCs. Shibuya, Fukuoka, and METI all route these to retailer or maker take-back with separate fees, never to the oversized truck.135 Sort these items out of the sodai gomi list before booking anything.
Unlicensed collectors and cash demands
Free-pickup flyers can end in extra charges or illegally dumped waste traced back to the discharger. METI documents unpermitted collectors, improper processing, fires, and fee disputes around household appliance hand-offs.5 Confirm municipal permission or commission and hold a written quote before handing over any item.
See also
- Designated Bags (Shitei Gomi-Bukuro) System
- Garbage-Station Etiquette and the Wrong-Day Name-Tag
- Foreign-Resident Garbage Mistakes in Japan
- Move-Out Procedures: Closing Utility Accounts
- Japan Trash Sorting Rules and Municipality Variation
- Recycling Specifics: Plastics, Cans, Bottles, Paper