Any item. Your ZIP.One trusted answer.

Pick the situation. We'll route the items.

Most residents arrive with a real-life cleanup, not a single item. Tell us what kind of cleanup you're doing — we'll route you into the right flow.

• 30 seconds

  Just one item

  I'm holding it now. Tell me where this single thing goes.

  Start here
• 5 minutes

  Moving

  Sorting what comes with me, what gets donated, and what stays at the curb.

  Start here
• 10 minutes

  Downsizing or garage clean-out

  Big purge. List every item once; we group them by destination.

  Start here
• 10–20 minutes

  Estate cleanout

  Clearing a relative's home. Plan the whole thing once — donations, hazardous, bulky pickup.

  Start here
• 30 seconds

  Hazardous cleanup

  Old paint, batteries, chemicals, or sharps. Where's the verified drop-off near me?

  Start here
• 5 minutes

  Planning a donation

  Couch, clothes, military uniform, working CPAP. Find the right org and check what they accept.

  Start here

None of these fit? Skip to the quick check or see how it works.

When sources disagree, we say so.

Every verdict is sourced and dated. When two cities publish different rules for the same item, ClearPath picks based on your ZIP and shows you the reasoning. If we got it wrong, you can flag it.

What makes ClearPath different.

There are real disposal-guidance sites already out there. Each of them is good at something, and each has a structural gap. Here is how ClearPath approaches the same problem, and what that means for the person standing at the bin.

• Layered authority

  Every verdict shows which authority produced which step: Federal, State, County, and City. You can see exactly who said what.

  vs. others: Most disposal sites pick one source (usually the national EPA) and apply it everywhere. ClearPath walks the full hierarchy and shows it.

• Honest about conflicts

  When two cities publish different rules for the same item, ClearPath shows both sources and tells you which one applies in your ZIP.

  vs. others: Other sites average disagreements silently, or hide them. We name the conflict and explain the call.

• A citation on every answer

  Every verdict links back to the source rule on the publishing agency's site (EPA, MPCA, Hennepin County, PaintCare, and so on).

  vs. others: Earth911 cites its own internal database. County .gov pages cite themselves. We cite the publisher of record so you can verify.

• ZIP-resolved locality

  Type a ZIP, see the governing rule for that ZIP — with the authority it uses named. Not a national average dressed up with a regional disclaimer.

  vs. others: Many disposal sites serve the same rule to a Minneapolis resident and an Atlanta resident. We treat them differently.

• Freshness, gated

  A daily worker checks every cited source. After 180 days without re-verification, the rule is flagged stale. Every verdict shows its last-verified date.

  vs. others: Static disposal blogs go stale silently, which is the worst kind of wrong. We fail loud, not silent.

• Public, free, no app required

  /check works in any browser without a login. No app install, no email capture, no demo gate just to get a disposal answer.

  vs. others: RecycleCoach lives inside white-labeled city apps you may not want to install. We are web-first by design.

To be clear: we are not trying to replace county pages or retailer take-back programs. We cite them. We just route you to the right one faster than you could find it on your own.

The ladder before the bin.

Every verdict walks the same seven steps in the same order. The landfill is always the last consideration — never the first. You'll see exactly which step the engine landed on, and why it skipped the ones above it.

1. Step 1

   Reuse

   Can you keep using it? The least-overhead option — no transport, no new owner.

2. Step 2

   Donate

   Working couch, microwave, kids' bikes. Habitat ReStore, Goodwill, military uniforms to AMVETS.

3. Step 3

   Sell

   Vintage electronics, tools, instruments. Real value, less landfill.

4. Step 4

   Repair

   Broken vacuum, frayed cable. Local repair cafés + manufacturer service still work for a lot of items.

5. Step 5

   Take-back

   PaintCare for latex, Call2Recycle for batteries, Best Buy for electronics. 45 partner programs.

6. Step 6

   Recycle

   Standard curbside or county drop-off, with the ZIP-specific accepted-materials list.

Real questions residents actually ask.

Each question below is one a Hennepin or Richfield resident has actually typed into Google in the last 90 days. The right column names what we built to answer it.

What you get as a resident.

Ask by text or photo — most answers arrive in seconds.

• Type, photograph, or scan a whole bin

  Three input modes: type the item, snap one photo, or use Before-You-Throw to scan your whole trash bag at once. All three return the governing rule for your ZIP — federal, state, and published local layers — never a national average.

• Cleanout & estate mode for the big jobs

  Moving, downsizing, or clearing a relative's home? List every item once; the planner groups them by destination (recycle, donate, hazardous drop-off, special pickup) so you make the smallest number of trips.

• Programs near you, dated and sourced

  Manufacturer take-back programs (PaintCare, Call2Recycle, Best Buy, Habitat ReStore) plus county options, surfaced only where they actually apply. Save the ones you use and we will remind you when they refresh.

Three things you can do right now.

Each link goes straight into the working app. No demo gate, no email capture.

Real people maintain this. Here is the evidence.

Live platform numbers appear below when available. So do the source jurisdictions, the recent shipping log, and the accessibility checks. You can verify any of it yourself.