What Can and Can't Go in a Dumpster in Dallas and DFW

Yes — load it

• Household junk and furniture: sofas, mattresses, tables, boxes, toys, clothing.
• Construction and renovation debris: wood, drywall, flooring, siding, cabinets, doors, windows, fixtures.
• Roofing: shingles, underlayment, flashing — heavy, so watch the tonnage.
• Yard waste: limbs, brush, fence panels, stumps, sod.
• Metal, plastic and cardboard.
• Concrete, brick, block and tile — in a 10 yard loaded level, not heaped in a bigger box.
• Most appliances: washers, dryers, stoves, water heaters.

No — and where it goes instead

The Texas asbestos rule

Texas's Asbestos Health Protection Rules (25 TAC §296.251) require the Department of State Health Services to be notified of any demolition of a public building or facility, whether or not asbestos has been identified, at least 10 working days before work starts, with a minimum notification fee of $55. Public buildings need a survey by a DSHS-licensed asbestos inspector; commercial buildings a NESHAP survey; and regulated asbestos-containing material must be removed before demolition. Asbestos never goes in a roll-off. If the job is a demolition, that is the first question we ask.

What the city programs take

Every city on our run runs a bulk or brush program with limits, and none of them take contractor-generated debris. Dallas takes up to 10 cubic yards once a month behind the curb and excludes building materials, roofing, concrete and dirt. Irving takes four bulky items a week and brush cut to four-foot lengths. Garland collects weekly but nothing over 40 pounds. Rowlett caps bulk and brush at two cubic yards a week, DeSoto and Carrollton at three. Cedar Hill takes 10 cubic yards once a month. Allen collects bulk monthly under 150 pounds and lists construction waste, fence materials and remodeling materials as excluded. Frisco limits bulk to five items. A container is for the pile that is bigger, heavier or sooner than that.

Where the debris ends up

Mixed debris goes to a permitted landfill or transfer station — around DFW that means facilities like the City of Irving's Hunter Ferrell Landfill, Garland's C.M. Hinton Regional Landfill in Rowlett, the City of Grand Prairie's landfill, Republic's Arlington Landfill, the DFW Landfill in Lewisville, WM's landfill in Ferris and the North Texas Municipal Water District's regional facility in Melissa, depending on the city and the contract. Clean concrete, scrap metal and green waste are routed for recovery where the facility allows it. Nothing goes to a random dump.