Rules

What Can and Cannot Go in a Dumpster: The Florence List

The accepted list is long and boring. The prohibited list is short, strictly enforced, and the reason loads occasionally get turned away. Here is both, plus where the rest goes in Lauderdale County.

The short version

If it came out of a building, a yard or a household and it is solid, non-hazardous and not on fire, it can almost certainly go in the container. If it is liquid, toxic, pressurised, or contains asbestos or refrigerant, it cannot.

That covers about ninety-five percent of questions. The rest of this article is the other five percent, which is where the money and the headaches live.

What you can put in

Household and furniture

Sofas, armchairs, beds, mattresses and box springs, tables, wardrobes, bookcases, desks, carpets, rugs, curtains, clothing, linens, toys, books, paperwork, kitchenware, patio furniture, grills with the propane tank removed, exercise equipment and general clutter. There is no mattress surcharge on our containers.

Construction and renovation debris

Drywall, plaster, lath, timber, plywood and sheet goods, doors, windows, trim, kitchen cabinets, countertops, tiling, laminate, hardwood and vinyl flooring, insulation, siding, soffit and fascia, guttering, porch and deck timber, and general non-hazardous building material.

Roofing

Asphalt shingle in both three-tab and architectural, metal panels, felt and synthetic underlayment, flashing, drip edge, ridge vents and roof decking. Weight is the constraint here, not acceptability — see the roofing sizing guide.

Heavy and inert material

Concrete, block, brick, pavers, stone, rubble, ceramic and porcelain tile and clean asphalt. All fine, all heavy — these belong in a 10 yard.

Scrap metal

Ductwork, conduit, steel studs, railings, farm sheeting, fencing and bicycles. Worth separating if there is enough of it, because it is often worth money rather than costing it.

What is prohibited

These are not company preferences. Receiving facilities reject them and Alabama rules prohibit them.

• Liquids of any kind — including paint, stains, varnish, thinners, solvents, oils and fuels
• Asbestos-containing material — common in pre-1980 floor tile, mastic, pipe lagging, textured ceilings and some siding. Licensed abatement only
• Whole tyres — the county landfill does take tyres, but they do not belong in a mixed roll-off load
• Batteries — vehicle, marine, lithium and household
• Propane, gas and pressurised cylinders, including "empty" ones
• Refrigerant-charged equipment — see the Freon rule below
• Pesticides, herbicides and fertiliser
• Medical and infectious waste, including sharps
• Hot ashes or anything smouldering
• Contaminated soil
• Fluorescent tubes and older ballasts

The Freon rule

This one deserves its own section because it is the single most common problem we run into, and because the local rule is specific.

The Lauderdale County landfill accepts appliances without Freon. That wording matters. A washer, dryer, oven or dishwasher is fine. Anything with a compressor — a refrigerator, freezer, window air conditioning unit or dehumidifier — has to have the refrigerant professionally evacuated and the unit tagged to prove it before any facility will accept it.

If you leave that to us or to the facility, there is a recovery charge and it gets passed on. If you have an HVAC contractor coming anyway, getting them to evacuate and tag the unit while they are on site is much cheaper. Plan it before the container arrives rather than discovering the problem when the truck is loaded.

The grey areas people ask about

Paint cans

Liquid paint is prohibited. Dried-out latex paint is generally acceptable. Open the can and let it harden — cat litter or sand speeds it up — and once it is solid and not pourable it is no longer a liquid. Oil-based paint is hazardous whether wet or dry and needs a household hazardous waste route.

Treated timber

Acceptable in a mixed load. Not acceptable in a clean-wood container. That matters here because deck, fence and dock timber is nearly always treated, and deck replacement is constant work around the lakes.

Mattresses

Perfectly acceptable, no surcharge from us. Bulky rather than heavy, so allow for the volume.

Brush and yard waste

Acceptable in a mixed container, but often the wrong answer financially. The City of Florence collects heavy trash and brush at the curb within a defined pile size, and the county landfill takes trees and limbs. See the brush guide before you fill a mixed container with limbs.

Electronics

A few household items in a mixed load are generally fine. Volumes of e-waste should go to a dedicated recycler.

Where to take what we cannot accept

What happens if prohibited material turns up

Loads are inspected at the receiving facility. If prohibited material is identified, one of three things happens: the item is pulled and specially handled at cost, the load is rejected and returned, or the facility levies a charge which is passed on.

None of those are good outcomes and all cost more than a phone call would have. If you are looking at something and wondering, that wondering is the signal to ask.

A pre-load checklist

• Walk the pile and pull out anything liquid, pressurised or chemical
• Check for a Freon tag on any appliance with a compressor
• If the building predates 1980 and you are disturbing floor tile, mastic or pipe insulation, stop and get it tested
• Set aside scrap metal if there is enough to be worth it
• Keep clean brush out if the city pickup will take it
• Check pockets, drawers, tins and books before furniture goes in
• Load flat and heavy first, bulky on top, and stop at the rail