Sometimes throwing away trash is an art form. If you’ve rented a construction waste dumpster for your home, it’s tempting to just toss everything in there without thinking about it.
But if you’ve got a lot of waste to dispose of, a lot of construction waste, and a lot of household items to clear out, you need to be a bit more intentional. If you overfill your dumpster or have items sticking out above the top, you could incur penalties.
Plus, if you toss certain types of items, you can also incur penalties. Rather than waste money paying these fines, all you need to do is think a little bit about how to fill the dumpster.
Wondering what the best way to load a dumpster with building waste and other items is? Keep reading to learn 10 important tips about effective dumpster loading.
- Start With Construction Waste First
Construction waste removal is the most common reason to rent a large dumpster. When building a new home, or renovating an existing one, hiring a construction waste management company to deliver a dumpster is important.
Building waste is often large, heavy, and abundant. When installing a new roof, for example, the old one needs to be torn off. Every shingle has to come down, and that takes up a lot more space than you realize.
Start with building waste so you know for sure that you have enough space in your dumpster for all the important stuff. After you finish your renovations and your construction waste disposal, you can start loading your less important waste, such as household clutter, in any remaining dumpster space.
- Load the Largest Items First
Anytime you load a container with different sized items, it’s important to load the largest items first. This ensures they fit before anything else, as these are the most important to get rid of and the hardest to dispose of.
If you have smaller items that don’t end up fitting after all the large stuff is tossed, you can easily take small items to your local landfill on your own. Or you can toss it in your weekly refuse collection bin.
But large items, like old mattresses, pieces of wood or drywall, or anything else that won’t fit into your refuse collection bin needs to be prioritized when the dumpster is still empty.
- Fit Small Items Into Corners
Once the large items are in the dumpster, you can begin tossing smaller items. Rather than just chucking everything in the dumpster, maximize space by tucking smaller items into corners and between larger items. You want to utilize every empty space.
Otherwise, your waste will reach the top of the dumpster and you can’t toss any more trash, even though there’s tons of empty space underneath. That means you are essentially paying to throw away air.
- Place Items in, Don’t Throw Them
When you throw items into the dumpster, you can’t see where they are going. They will often pile up very inefficiently. This is what will create large pockets of air between all of your waste.
Instead, if you are able to be more selective by placing items into the dumpster, choose the spot for each piece of junk or waste, then you can pack the dumpster much more fully, making the most of your money.
- Break Objects Down
Throwing away larger items is less effective when trying to maximize space in the dumpster. If an object can be broken down into smaller pieces, take the time to do so. The pieces will be able to fit much better in the dumpster, helping you make the most of the space you have.
This means flattening all boxes. You can break or saw long pieces of wood into smaller chunks. Foam can be quickly cut down and drywall scraps can be cut and snapped.
- Distribute the Weight
While an evenly weighted dumpster means little to you, it means a lot to the driver who will come to pick up the dumpster. If one side of the dumpster has piles of concrete, and the other is filled with foam, the dumpster will be extremely uneven and can be dangerous to transport.
Do your driver a favor and disperse the weight throughout the length of the dumpster.
- Know the Weight Limit of Your Construction Waste Dumpster
Every dumpster has a weight limit. When you are loading it with household items, it’s unlikely you are going to come close to this weight limit. But if you have extensive renovations taking place, and need to dispose of things like concrete, bricks, or other heavy materials, it pays to know the weight limit ahead of time.
- Order a Bigger Size
Companies like Discount Dumpster Rental make your life easier by offering various sized dumpsters. It can be tempting to order a smaller dumpster to save a few dollars, thinking you don’t have that much waste.
Everyone has more waste than they realize. More often than not, when residents try ordering a smaller dumpster, it’s not enough for all the waste they have stored up.
Do yourself a favor and order one to two sizes larger than you think you need.
- Don’t Exceed the Max Fill Line
One of the most important things to do when filling a dumpster is keeping your waste level below the max fill line. As your driver removes the dumpster from your home, it becomes very unsafe for objects to be sticking over the top of this line.
You may be charged extra for this, and you may be required to remove items from the dumpster until the waste sits below this line.
- Know What You and Can’t Throw Away
Every company and municipality has rules regarding what can and can’t be thrown away. Make sure you understand this before you start loading up your dumpster. Otherwise, when the dumpster leaves and heads to the landfill, you may be charged extra fees for banned materials.
Think Ahead to Maximize Your Rental
Filling a construction waste dumpster isn’t hard. But in order to make it as easy as possible, it pays to think a little bit beforehand. Otherwise, you aren’t going to make the most of your dumpster, which ends up wasting your money.
Looking for more tips like this? Be sure to explore our blog today to keep reading.