Where Does Dumpster Trash Go After It Leaves My Property?

If you have a dumpster collecting garbage and waste from a roofing repair or fire damage cleanout, then you may be asking yourself where all the waste goes once you’re done with it. The most likely destination is a local landfill, but this is still dependent on the facility receiving your trash and what processes they use to process it all, as well as the city you live in.

Places That Accept Dumpster Trash

It’s fairly common for garbage and debris in roll-offs to visit several facilities during the process of disposal. This is often due to the type of debris and waste in the bin and what the regulations are for disposing of it.

Below are the two main starting points in the life cycle of a dumpster’s trash:

Local Transfer Stations

Many times, where a roll-off is first dumped isn’t the final destination like a landfill. Instead, it’s an in-between location where the facility compacts it into more manageable sizes for transfer to another destination for processing.

Nearby Material Recovery Facilities

Material recovery facilities go the extra step of sorting through your waste to recover recyclable materials. Often this is a manual process, and some facilities only accept already sorted materials which they then compact and forward on to other businesses or landfills.

What are the Final Destinations for Garbage?

Once your dumpster waste has made it through a sorter or compactor, it will likely head off to one of the three destinations below for recycling, landfill burial, or energy manufacture.

Landfills

Currently, the United States has 3,091 active landfills that hold approximately half of all trash in our country. These vital locations for disposal don’t last forever either; the average lifespan of a landfill is only 30 to 50 years, according to the Department of Health and Environmental Control. Imagine how many inactive dumps are out there today!

Trash that ends up in a landfill is simply stored there in layers. Over time, trash and debris eventually decompose, but the process is gradual due to the multiple layers of clay and plastic used to contain toxic contaminants from seeping into the groundwater.

Recycling Companies

One of the more green waste disposal options is recycling and/or composting our trash. According to the EPA, out of 267 million tons of produced garbage in 2017, 62 million tons were recycled and another 30 million composted. That is a little over 30% diverted from rotting in landfills, and each year, these numbers get higher.

As our society depends more on plastics, these recycling facilities will need to expand even more to have the capacity to process this increased demand for disposable containers. They also process other materials like:

• Aluminum
• Glass
• Paper
• Rubber

Incinerator Facilities that Produce Energy

Trash incineration to energy facilities creates combustion chambers to burn away solid waste. According to the U.S. Energy Information Administration, our country currently processes a little over 12% of our produced trash every year through incineration. The surplus heat generated from these facilities becomes a new source of heating and electricity.

While this does significantly cut down on the tons of trash in landfills, some groups are against the process because of the air pollutants it generates.

Manage Your Residential Project Waste with a Dumpster

While the majority of our garbage still ends up in landfills, the good news is you have options available to minimize your contribution. From recycling to incineration, there are many ways to manage your project waste. Bin There Dump That offers several roll-off sizes to meet your job needs and which makes it easier to keep track of how much you are throwing away.

Our premier customer service can’t be matched by third-party scheduling companies. We own our fleet of convenient dumpsters, are transparent about our pricing and policies, and are always available to answer any questions you have about renting. You can also count on us for rapid delivery and pickup so that you don’t have to adjust your schedule to accommodate our drivers.

Contact us today at 904-500-2838  or contact us online for more information. Visit our blog for additional tips and tricks to maximize the benefits of your dumpster rental experience!

Remember to use Bin There Dump That for all your dumpster needs.