Rules

What Can and Cannot Go in a Dumpster: The Longview 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.

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 — worth knowing, because the city charges $20 to collect a mattress at the curb.

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, fencing 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.

Heavy and inert material

Concrete, block, brick, pavers, stone, rubble, ceramic and porcelain tile and clean asphalt. Also rocks and dirt — which matters, because those are on the city's excluded list and a container is the only route for them. All heavy, so all 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

• Liquids of any kind — paint, stains, varnish, thinners, solvents, oils and fuels
• Asbestos-containing material — common in pre-1980 floor tile, mastic, pipe lagging and textured ceilings. Licensed abatement only
• Whole tyres — see below
• Lead acid and other batteries
• Oil and oil filters
• Propane, gas and pressurised cylinders, including "empty" ones
• Refrigerant-charged equipment without certification — see below
• Pesticides, herbicides and fertiliser
• Medical and infectious waste, including sharps
• Hot ashes or anything smouldering
• Contaminated soil
• Fluorescent tubes and older ballasts

The refrigerant rule and the certification letter

This is the one that most often stops a load locally, and Longview's rule is more specific than most people expect.

So it is not enough for the refrigerant to have been removed. There has to be paperwork, and that paperwork has to travel with the appliance. If you have an HVAC contractor doing the work anyway, ask them for the letter at the time. Chasing it afterwards is a great deal harder.

Washers, dryers, ovens and dishwashers have no compressor and no refrigerant, so none of this applies to them.

Tyres: split, quartered or shredded

Another specific local rule worth knowing. Tyres cannot go to the Pine Hill Landfill unless they are split, quartered or shredded, and the city will not collect them at the curb at all.

In practice that means whole tyres do not go in our containers. If you have a handful, a tyre retailer will usually take them for a small fee. If you have a trailer load from a property clearance, tell us at booking and we will point you at the right route rather than have the load turned away.

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, with cat litter or sand to speed 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.

Treated timber

Acceptable in a mixed load. Not acceptable in a clean-wood container, which matters here because fence and deck timber is nearly always treated.

Pine needles and yard waste

Acceptable in a mixed container, but usually the wrong answer financially. The city runs a separate weekly yard waste service that takes leaves, pine needles, bundled brush and grass clippings up to eight cubic yards a week, and it goes to the compost site rather than landfill. See the bulky and yard waste guide.

Rocks and dirt

Fine in our containers, in a small one, part-filled. The city will not take them — they are explicitly excluded, and if they are collected undetected they get returned to the owner.

Where the rest has to go

A pre-load checklist

• Walk the pile and pull out anything liquid, pressurised or chemical
• Check for a compressor on any appliance — and get the certification letter
• Pull out whole tyres
• 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 pine needles and clean brush out if the city yard waste service will take them
• Check pockets, drawers, tins and books before furniture goes in
• Load flat and heavy first, bulky on top, and stop at the rail — an overfilled container cannot be tarped, and tarping is a legal requirement