Rules

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

Some of what you cannot put in a container, the City will collect off your curb for nothing. Worth knowing which is which.

The short version

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

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

What you can put in

Household and furniture

Sofas, armchairs, bed frames, mattresses, tables, wardrobes, bookcases, desks, carpet and underlay, rugs, window coverings, toys, books, paperwork, kitchenware, patio furniture, grills with the propane tank removed, exercise equipment and general clutter.

Construction and renovation debris

Drywall, plaster and lath, timber, plywood and sheet goods, doors, windows, trim, kitchen cabinets, countertops, tiling, hardwood and laminate flooring, insulation, siding, soffit and fascia, guttering and fencing.

Concrete, block and masonry

All fine, all extremely heavy. Slab, footings, block wall, pavers and brick belong in a 10 yard, part-filled, and kept separate — clean material has a cheaper route.

Roofing

Composition shingle, cedar shake, metal panel, felt and underlayment, flashing and decking. Weight is the constraint, not acceptability.

Yard and garden material

Branches, brush, prunings, stumps within reason, sod and general garden clearance — though note that the City collects yard waste at the curb, so a container is only worth it for volume beyond what that handles.

What state law prohibits

Worth being precise about this, because in Michigan much of it is not our policy. Section 11514 of Part 115 prohibits specific materials from disposal in a non-hazardous solid waste landfill.

• Liquids of any kind — paint, stains, solvents, thinners, fuels, motor oil
• Batteries of every kind, lithium especially — a real fire risk in a loaded container
• Tires
• Used oil and oil filters
• Electronics — televisions, monitors, computers
• Refrigerant-charged equipment that has not been professionally evacuated
• Mercury-containing devices — old thermostats, some switches, fluorescent tubes
• Propane, gas and pressurised cylinders, including "empty" ones, and aerosols
• Medical and infectious waste, including sharps
• Beverage containers on which a deposit was paid
• Asbestos-containing material

The full picture on the ban list is here, including why one prohibited item can cost an entire load.

The free routes worth using first

Several prohibited items have a free destination locally. Use it.

Household hazardous waste goes to Oakland County's NoHaz program — paints, cleaners, fertilizers, motor oil and batteries. Contact nohaz@oakgov.com. County offices are at 1200 N Telegraph Road, here in Pontiac.

Bulk household items are collected at the curb by the City's contractor. If what you have is a sofa and a mattress rather than a renovation, that is your answer.

Free resident drop-off at the Collier Road Transfer Station, 575 Collier Road, during limited hours — and at the City Hall parking lot, Saturdays 8 a.m. to noon.

Household batteries deserve a specific mention. They are small enough to be thrown in without thinking and they are one of the main causes of fires in loaded containers and at transfer stations. Lithium cells in power tools, e-bikes and garden equipment are the ones to watch.

The grey areas people ask about

Mattresses

Acceptable in a container, but bulky. The City's bulk collection may take them, so ask before you spend container volume on them.

Appliances with a compressor

Fridges, freezers, window air conditioners and dehumidifiers need the refrigerant professionally evacuated first. In this county, check the basement as well as the garage — the second fridge is very often down there.

Old paint cans

Empty and fully dried with the lid off, generally fine. Anything with liquid paint in it is household hazardous waste.

Treated and painted wood

Acceptable in a general container, but it cannot go into a clean wood stream. On a job producing both, keep them apart.

Scrap metal

Not prohibited at all — but do not bury it. Radiators, cast iron soil stacks, galvanised pipe and ductwork from older houses have genuine value.

Asbestos

Not in our containers, ever. It falls under the federal NESHAP, which EGLE's Air Quality Division implements in Michigan. In any building predating 1980, get floor tile, basement pipe and boiler lagging and textured finishes tested before demolition starts.

Basement finds that stop a load

Worth its own section, because in this county the basement is where the problems live and because the last thing you want is to discover them after the container is full.

What turns up in an Oakland County basement with real regularity:

• Paint, and a lot of it — often decades of part-used cans
• Fuel and solvents from a workshop bench
• The old boiler or furnace, or parts of it
• Pipe and boiler lagging — the classic asbestos location in these houses
• A second fridge or freezer
• Stored deposit containers, sometimes years' worth
• Old fluorescent fixtures and thermostats with mercury content
• Tires, for a car sold long ago

Clear the basement's prohibited material before anything else moves. It is the single most useful sequencing decision on a clear-out here.

Where the rest has to go

A pre-load checklist

• Walk the basement first — that is where the prohibited material is
• Then the garage and any shed
• Pull every liquid: paint, stain, solvent, fuel, oil, antifreeze
• Check for batteries in tools, e-bikes, mobility equipment and garden kit
• Pull out propane cylinders and aerosols, including "empty" ones
• Set electronics aside for proper recycling
• Check for the second fridge — usually in the basement here
• Start a returnables bin if there is any volume of deposit containers
• In a pre-1980 building, get suspect material tested before you break it
• Pull the scrap metal, radiators included
• Keep yard waste for the curb, and bulk items for City collection
• Load flat and heavy first, bulky on top, and stop at the rail