What Can and Can't Go in a Dumpster in Colorado

Yes — load it

• Household junk and furniture: sofas, tables, boxes, general clutter — and mattresses.
• Construction and renovation debris: drywall, wood and trim, doors and windows, cabinets, countertops and fixtures, carpet, laminate and tile, lumber, scrap metal — and pallets and packaging.
• Roofing: shingles and underlayment — heavy, so mind the weight allowance.
• Cardboard and packaging.
• Concrete, brick, asphalt, rock and dirt — in a weight-limited 10 or 15 yard, kept separate.
• Yard debris: branches and limbs, leaves and grass clippings, shrubs, soil and sod — ideally in its own load.
• Small appliances that hold no refrigerant and are not covered electronics — ask if you are unsure.

Colorado's list of materials banned from landfills is short and specific, so most building and household debris is fine. We found no Colorado mattress or appliance stewardship law. And Colorado's new packaging program (C.R.S. 25-17-701 and following) funds residential recycling only — it has no effect on roll-off or construction debris service.

What Colorado keeps out of landfills

CDPHE lists the residential materials "prohibited from disposal in a solid waste site or facility in Colorado": lead-acid batteries; liquid wastes or wastes containing free liquids, unless the facility is specifically approved for them; used oil; waste tires, unless no other option exists; and waste electronic devices and computers. Here is the law behind each, and where the item goes instead:

Three common myths. Colorado has no landfill ban on white goods that we found — the fridge rule is the federal refrigerant rule. The ban on putting household batteries in landfills does not start until January 1, 2030; today only lead-acid batteries are banned by statute, though batteries are on our no list anyway. And the electronics ban does not cover everything with a plug: telephones, devices built into washers, dryers, fridges, ovens and microwaves, and cell-type devices with screens of four inches or less are outside the definition (25-17-302(3)(b)).

Our no list, and why

Our own no list: paint, solvents and oils, fuel and hazardous liquids, tires, batteries, hazardous chemicals, gas cylinders, propane tanks and other pressurized containers, medical waste, asbestos and appliances containing refrigerants. For a yard waste box, also leave out treated and pressure-treated lumber, plastic containers, fertilizers, chemicals and household trash. If you are unsure about something, call (720) 370-8548 before you load it — it is far cheaper than finding out at the gate.

Colorado also makes haulers tell their customers a few things, so consider this our notice: land disposal of lead-acid batteries is prohibited, and they can go back to a retailer or wholesaler, a secondary lead smelter, or a collection or recycling facility (C.R.S. 30-20-1002(4)); land disposal of used oil is prohibited (30-20-1005(6)); and waste electronic devices are prohibited from disposal, which haulers must post (CDPHE).

No — and where it goes instead

Business hazardous waste is different: Rooney Road does not subsidize it and books it by phone only. Outside the Rooney Road area, check your own city — Englewood, Littleton and Sheridan run their own household hazardous waste programs.

Appliances and refrigerant

Federal law puts the duty on "The final processor—i.e., persons who take the final step in the disposal process (including but not limited to scrap recyclers and landfill operators)" of a small appliance, who must either recover any remaining refrigerant or verify, with a signed statement or contract naming who recovered it and when, that it has been recovered (40 CFR 82.155). We found no Colorado landfill ban on white goods, and Colorado's electronics law leaves out devices built into washers, dryers, fridges and freezers — so for a fridge, freezer or window unit it is the refrigerant that matters. Denver's Large Item Pickup does not take appliances either. That is why appliances containing refrigerant stay out of our boxes. If you would rather not deal with a fridge or an A/C unit yourself, our junk removal service takes appliances with proper preparation.

Asbestos in Colorado

Under the state's Regulation 8, CDPHE requires the area to be "inspected for asbestos by a Colorado-certified asbestos inspector" before demolition, and "A ten working-day notification period is required before the demolition can commence." The demolition notification form is filed "even if no asbestos was found", homes included, with a fee of $50 plus $5 per 1,000 square feet. For homes, abatement rules kick in at 50 linear feet, 32 square feet or one 55-gallon drum of asbestos-containing material. CDPHE's asbestos unit is at cdphe.asbestos@state.co.us, 720-507-5136.

Asbestos waste "must be disposed of at an approved asbestos waste disposal site, regardless of the quantity", and concrete or wood bonded or contaminated with asbestos-containing material cannot be recycled. Denver's household hazardous waste collection does not take asbestos, including linoleum tiles from older homes. Never put asbestos in a roll-off.

Sorting: construction debris, recycling loads, yard waste and household junk

It pays to sort the way the recycling rules do. Lakewood's construction and demolition rules require asphalt, concrete, cardboard, untreated wood, metal and reusable architectural salvage to be recycled on covered projects, with weight tickets as proof (§14.02.040(J)), and Denver's ordinance counts concrete, asphalt, masonry, untreated wood, metal, corrugated cardboard and reused items. A clean load of concrete and asphalt can go to recycling; the same material mixed into a remodel load usually cannot. Remodel and tear-out debris is a different load again, and household junk from a cleanout is a third.

So keep brush in its own load where you can, keep heavy concrete and brick apart from everything else, and do not mix a household cleanout into a remodel box without telling us. Whenever possible we send metal, concrete, asphalt, cardboard and yard debris to recycling, and if your permit needs weight tickets, tell us when you book. If you are not sure where something belongs, call before you load it.