Rules

What Can and Cannot Go in a Dumpster: The Johnstown List

The accepted list is long and boring. The prohibited list is short, strictly enforced, and one item on it is banned by Pennsylvania state law.

The short version

If it came out of a building, a yard or a household and it is solid, non-hazardous and not on fire, it can almost certainly go in the container. If it is liquid, toxic, pressurised, or contains asbestos or refrigerant, it cannot. And electronics are their own case here, because Pennsylvania law puts them outside the waste stream entirely.

That covers about ninety-five percent of questions. The rest of this article is the other five percent, which is where the money and the headaches live.

What you can put in

Household and furniture

Sofas, armchairs, beds, mattresses and box springs, tables, wardrobes, bookcases, desks, carpets, rugs, curtains, clothing, linens, toys, books, paperwork, kitchenware, patio furniture, grills with the propane tank removed, exercise equipment and general clutter. No mattress surcharge on our containers.

Worth noting against the City's allowance: all of that together is one bulk item a month if you go the curbside route. In a container it is a single afternoon.

Construction and renovation debris

Drywall, plaster and lath, timber, plywood and sheet goods, doors, windows, trim, kitchen cabinets, countertops, tiling, laminate and vinyl flooring, insulation, siding, soffit and fascia, guttering, fencing and deck timber, and general non-hazardous building material.

None of this is household trash, so none of it belongs in the curbside collection.

Cellar and interior strip-outs

Panelling, suspended ceiling tile and grid, carpet and underlay, framing, drywall and old built-in furniture. Mostly bulky rather than heavy — unless it has been wet, which in a low-lying valley cellar it often has.

Roofing

Asphalt shingle in both three-tab and architectural, metal panels, felt and synthetic underlayment, flashing, drip edge and roof decking. Weight is the constraint, not acceptability.

Heavy and inert material

Concrete, block, brick, pavers, stone, rubble and tile. All fine, all heavy — these belong in a 10 yard.

Scrap metal

Ductwork, conduit, steel studs, railings, fencing and appliances without refrigerant. Worth separating — the City keeps a list of businesses that take scrap metal and aluminium, and the County runs appliance pickup dates.

What is prohibited

• Liquids of any kind — paint, stains, varnish, thinners, solvents, oils and fuels
• Asbestos-containing material — common in pre-1980 floor tile, mastic and pipe lagging, and very common in housing of this age. Licensed abatement only
• Electronics — see the next section, this is state law
• Tyres
• Batteries of any kind
• Propane, gas and pressurised cylinders, including "empty" ones
• Refrigerant-charged equipment that has not been professionally evacuated
• Pesticides, herbicides and fertiliser
• Medical and infectious waste, including sharps
• Hot ashes or anything smouldering — a real issue here with coal and wood heat
• Contaminated soil
• Fluorescent tubes and older ballasts

Electronics are banned by state law

This one is not a company policy or a local rule. It is Pennsylvania law and it catches people out.

The law puts the obligation on manufacturers to provide recycling, through one-day collection events, mail-back programmes or retailer take-back. Some retailers accept electronics directly.

Practically, that means an old television cannot go in our container, cannot go in your curbside collection, and cannot go in a township cart. It has to go through an electronics recycling route. The City maintains a list of businesses that take electronics, the County Solid Waste Authority can point you at collection events, and the state DEP runs a recycling hotline.

Plan for it at the start of a clear-out rather than discovering it with a television in your hands on collection day.

What the City takes free

Worth knowing before you pay for anything.

Used motor oil is accepted free by the City for recycling into heating fuel, new motor oil and industrial lubricants. Drop it at the Highway Garage on Sixth Avenue in Cambria City, Monday to Friday, 7:00am to 2:30pm.

Recycling is collected curbside biweekly once you register your address with the City and receive a bin. The bin is for recycling only — no trash. It takes plastic jugs, jars and bottles #1 and #2, aluminium, tin and steel food and beverage cans, glass bottles, jugs and jars without lids, and newspapers, phone books, magazines, inserts, junk mail and envelopes. Everything must be rinsed.

Corrugated cardboard goes to the drop-off centres rather than the bin. The County has placed recycling containers at Roxbury Park.

Christmas trees go to Roxbury Park by early February, by the big blue bins. The City recycles around 1,500 of them a year.

The grey areas people ask about

Coal and wood ash

Only when completely cold — days, not hours. Coal ash in particular holds heat for a very long time, and this is a region where plenty of houses still burn solid fuel. A container fire is a serious event.

Paint cans

Liquid paint is prohibited. Dried-out latex paint is generally acceptable — open the can and let it harden with cat litter or sand. Oil-based paint is hazardous wet or dry and goes to a household hazardous waste collection.

Treated timber

Acceptable in a mixed load, not in a clean-wood container. Deck and fence timber is nearly always treated.

Appliances with a compressor

Fridges, freezers and window air conditioning units need the refrigerant professionally evacuated first. The County runs appliance pickup dates, which is often the simpler route.

Yard waste

The City collects it, but the limits are tight: bagged, boxed or bundled, bundles no longer than 3 feet and no heavier than 30 pounds, and you have to call to schedule the pickup. Anything past that is container work.

Where the rest has to go

A pre-load checklist

• Walk the pile and pull out anything liquid, pressurised or chemical
• Pull out every television, monitor and computer — state law, no exceptions
• Check the garage and cellar for propane cylinders, old fuel cans and paint
• Check any appliance with a compressor for refrigerant
• Make sure any coal or wood ash is stone cold
• If the building predates 1980 and you are disturbing floor tile, mastic or pipe lagging, stop and get it tested
• Set aside scrap metal — it has value and a free route
• Load flat and heavy first, bulky on top, and stop at the rail