The Importance Of Septic Tank Maintenance

3 Things You Shouldn't Place In Your Dumpster

If you are planning a huge cleanup project at your business, one of the first steps you take might be to order dumpsters. Dumpsters are ideal for disposing of large amounts of trash all at once; however, you might have unwanted things that you cannot place in the dumpsters you rent. Here are some of the things you cannot put in your dumpster rental, the reasons why, and the ways the items can be used if they are recycled.

Items Made of Metal

Your business may have old 50-gallon metal drums that are no longer needed, or:

• Shelves
• Parts from machines or vehicles
• Appliances
• Building materials

If these items are made of any type of metal, you should not place them in your dumpsters. According to Science Learning, it takes 50 to 100 years for a single tin can to decompose in a landfill. Imagine how long it would take for a large piece of metal to rot away.

Because metal doesn't decompose easily, it should not be placed in landfills. Instead, it can be brought to a metal recycling facility. Not only will you earn money by selling scrap metal to the recycling center, but you can avoid taking up precious space on the earth. Scrap metal can be recycled into usable metal products, and recycling metal requires less energy than what is needed to mine and fabricate metals from the earth.

Paint

The next item you might find in your warehouse is leftover cans of paint. While you might be tempted to throw these in your dumpster too, you should never do this, especially if the paint is oil-based. The first thing to look at with the old cans of paint is whether they are latex paints or oil-based paints.

Latex paint is not considered hazardous, but oil-based paint is. You can take the old cans of latex paint and pour them into boxes full of shredded paper. This will cause the paint to dry and the cans will be empty. You could then recycle the cans because they are made of metal.

If you have oil-based paint, you should look for a company that offers paint recycling services because oil-based paints are considered hazardous to the environment. If they are placed in the trash and end up in landfills, they can contaminate the ground. Paint recycling companies can mix old cans of paint together to create usable paint, which is then sold or given away.

Light Bulbs

Cleaning up your business might also result in finding old, used light bulbs and fixtures. While you can usually throw away old incandescent bulbs, you may not be able to place other types in your dumpster.

Incandescent bulbs do not contain toxic materials and neither do most halogen light bulbs; however, most other types of bulbs do. Compact fluorescent lamps (CFLs) are a popular type of bulb used today, and these bulbs contain mercury. While the amount of mercury is small, there is still enough in the bulbs to cause contamination of the environment if they end up in landfills.

Instead of throwing your unwanted light bulbs away, look for a company that offers light bulb recycling. They will remove the toxic materials from the bulbs and will reuse the other materials to create new products. If you are not sure how to get rid of these bulbs, talk to your garbage company. They may be able to steer you in the right direction.

Recycling is important and it can make a difference. If you would like to rent a dumpster for your project, or if you would like to learn about other items that are prohibited from dumpsters, contact a garbage company today.