Miller – The Miller Group

While most Markham residents know how to use their blue and green bins, and where to take their electronic and household hazardous waste for recycling and proper disposal, many may not know where to dispose large amount of household waste, such as construction materials, tires, furniture, broken appliances, etc. Through a personal need to dispose large amount of such, I found out the answer is a Transfer Station operated by Miller Waste Management.
Located on Rodick Road near the city’s electronic and hazardous collection center, the transfer station is a fully functioning waste management facility that opens to public on weekends and some holidays. Public can drive their garbage in residential cars or trucks to the station to dispose the waste for $ 8/​dump, subject to weight and quantity limit. I believe the current limit is 6 bags or 50kg, whichever is larger. If your junk are tires, large appliances, furniture, even large amount of construction materials, the cost is by tonne or by unit.
How it works is you drive up to a booth and answer the operator’s questions. When your car is next to operator booth, your car is actually sitting on a scale. The operator records the weight of your car. S/​he directs you to a drive up to a monstrous sized warehouse that collects garbage and so on. You wait for your turn to drive in and haul the junk out of your car yourself and pile it onto other junk. This is a 100% self serve place, so bring some muscles if your dump is heavy. When done, you drive out following a preset route painted on the ground to the other side of the operator booth onto the scale. Another operator will talk to you. S/​he weights your car and tell you the charge. You can pay by cash or credit card (as far as I remember).
What I find interesting is that, despite the fee schedule states a bag limit, the people there really care only the weight. So unless your junk is super heavy, the fee is $ 8 per disposal. For large home appliance, this place charges $ 26/​unit, whereas the City of Markham will collect from your curb at $ 11/​unit. Of course, this wonderful deal has a catch: you need an appointment, and the City only collect once a month from your street.
Another note is some of the stuffs that you can dispose here for a fee, the Elgin Mills Community Recycling Center (Elgin Mills and Leslie) will allow you to dispose for free. These stuffs are recyclable. The rest Elgin Mills center will collect for $ 10, whereas Miller charges $ 8. Therefore, depending on how willing you are to drive to Elgin Mills Road, and how much and how urgent you must dispose, you can significantly lower the cost. But Miller transfer station is an option when you have too much garbage that you want to be rid of quickly. Plus the City simply doesn’t collect large amount of construction materials on regular pick up days.