Dumpster Rental Tips for Success: Properly Load your Dumpster

You have been throwing garbage away your whole life, so you are pretty sure that you have it down by now. With all of the practice you have had you are probably very confident that you will know how to fill your dumpster when it is delivered. For the most part this is true. However, there are a few things that you need to keep in mind when loading your dumpster to ensure that everything goes well when the dumpster is picked up from your home.

The first thing you need to know is that debris and garbage should be loaded evenly in the dumpster. This is especially important if you don’t think you will fill the dumpster all of the way. Try to keep the weight of the trash even across the dumpster, so loading it back onto the truck goes smoother.

Another thing you need to keep in mind is the level you fill the dumpster to. We all want to save money and shove as much as we can into the smaller dumpster. However, if your garbage goes above the top level of the dumpster you risk having to unload all of the extra debris when the truck comes to pick it up. The driver will throw a tarp over the top of your dumpster to keep things inside during transport. If the debris is too high they won’ be able to do this step. The dumpster company will not haul a dumpster away that they do not deem safely loaded. Why risk having to undo all the work that you have already done. You may also incur extra charges if the dumpster can not safely be transported. So proper loading is very important.

To help in the dumpster loading process you should use the rear door of the dumpster instead of having to pick everything up over the sides. The door is the width of the dumpster, which gives you plenty of room to throw even large items away. When the door is open you can just walk all of the trash in, until it gets to be close to full. Then you can close the door and throw the last couple of items in.

If you do load your dumpster this way, you should note that there will be about a 6 inch lip between the dumpster and the ground.  In a case where you have items that you are wheeling in, you should consider creating a small ramp to easily get over the lip. Even if you are carrying all of your items into the dumpster, you may want to do this so that you don’t trip.

When you are cleaning out your garage or throwing away the debris from your demolition, keep in mind that there are some items you cannot throw in the dumpster. These are materials that many dumpster companies do not have a way to properly dispose of. Some of these items include paint, batteries, biohazardous material and chemicals. Check with your dumpster rental company to see what specific restrictions they have.

Throwing out garbage and getting rid of debris isn’t hard, but in order to ensure that your dumpster rental experience is a success, you should keep in mind the guidelines for proper dumpster loading. You do not want pick up day to be a day full of surprises.