A Quick Guide to What You Can’t Put in Your Dumpster
We get versions of this questions of this version all the time:
“What CAN’T I put in my rental dumpster?”
Of course, there is a list of items included in the rental contract, but you want to know the answer before you make the decision to rent a dumpster. So here’s a quick guide to what you can’t put in your dumpster.
First of all please note, this is a list of what you can’t put in YOUR dumpster.
There is a much shorter list to what you can’t put in someone else’s dumpster: everything. You should never put anything in someone else’s rental dumpster. If you do this, you are subjecting yourself and them to possible citations and fines.
The list of prohibited items falls into a couple of different categories.
Home interior:
The following home interior items should not be placed in your dumpster.
- Mattresses
- Couches
- Upholstered chairs
- Beds
- Paint / paint cans
- Televisions
- Household cleaners
- Light bulbs
- Refrigerators
- Large appliances
Each of these items likely have specific rules in your community for their disposal. In some cases this is because the items can be reused, usually decent furniture fits into that category, and televisions you’ve replaced not because they weren’t working but because you’ve upgraded. Keeping them in use and in circulation saves landfill space and saves another family money.
In other cases the items can’t be disposed of because they are themselves toxic or they contain toxic ingredients. Placing them in the landfill those poses problems to your environment including the drinking water for your community. Your community likely has rules and procedures for disposing of hazardous ingredients.
Garage or lawn and garden:
These garage, lawn, and garden items should not be placed in your dumpster.
- Pesticides
- Lawn chemicals
- Weed killer / herbicides
- Engine oil or lubricants
- Propane tanks (even if you’re CERTAIN they are empty)
- Tires
In each of these cases throwing out the indicated item is a risk to the environment and the people who handle or work at your trash processing facility. In some cases, including engine oil and lubricants, proper recycling means that they can be useful again. It might take an extra step, but reusing and reducing waste goes a long way towards helping the community.
Large item removal
Many municipalities offer the service of removing large items for you. Often you have to call ahead to schedule a pickup of the item on a specific day. This might not be your normal trash pick-up day, because the schedule is handled separately and sometimes is handled by an entirely different company or contractor.
Most communities require you to get it out to the curb which doesn’t require any more or less work than it would’ve taken to get it into a large dumpster. Some communities will even offer the help of someone coming into or up to your house to help with the removal process.