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

Yes — load it

• Household junk and furniture: sofas, tables, chairs, boxes and general clutter. Furniture is not covered by the wood ban.
• Construction and renovation debris: wood, drywall, flooring, siding, cabinets and fixtures, packaging and pallets.
• Roofing: asphalt shingles and underlayment. Not a banned material, but heavy, so mind the weight limit.
• Concrete, brick or asphalt in approved limited quantities, ideally kept as a clean load.
• Cardboard, plastic and packaging, with cardboard flattened and kept together so it can be recycled.
• Yard waste: grass clippings and leaves, branches and limbs, shrubs, soil, mulch and sod, as its own load.

Several of those — concrete, brick, asphalt, metal, wood and clean drywall — are on the MassDEP ban list, but the ban is on disposal, not on the dumpster. Mixed construction debris goes to a handling facility that meets MassDEP's minimum performance standard, where the banned materials are separated for recycling, and a facility will not pass on mixed loads with clean drywall in them without first pulling the drywall out. A clean load of concrete or brick can go straight to recycling.

What Massachusetts bans from disposal

MassDEP's waste-ban rule says no person may dispose of, transfer for disposal, or contract to dispose of or transport a restricted material except as the rule allows (310 CMR 19.017(3)(a)), and that catches the hauler as well as the customer. Here is the list that matters for a roll-off, and where each item can go instead:

Three common myths. Asphalt shingles without asbestos are not banned; MassDEP encourages recycling them, but they can go in a roofing load. Furniture is not covered by the wood ban. And we found no new Massachusetts disposal ban in 2025 or 2026; the newest are still the mattress and textile bans of November 2022. Most town facilities serve their own residents only, so check your town's rules before you plan a drop-off.

Our no list, and why

Our own no list: paints, solvents and automotive fluids, batteries and electronics, propane tanks and fuel containers, tires, medical waste, asbestos, hazardous chemicals and refrigerators containing Freon. Some items are restricted for safety and environmental reasons, and the fire code adds two more: oily rags, and hot coals, cinders or ashes, which may not go in a combustible container (527 CMR 1.00, 19.3.1). For a yard waste box, keep out construction debris and household trash, so the load can be recycled. If you have questions about a specific material, call (508) 388-1861 before delivery and we confirm everything upfront; it is far cheaper than finding out at the facility.

Massachusetts makes the waste bans the hauler's business too: MassDEP inspects loads at disposal facilities to find haulers and generators who dispose of banned materials, and Falmouth's Board of Health tells permitted collectors to hand customers a copy of the MassDEP Waste Ban List and not to knowingly collect waste-ban materials (§§ 11.5, 11.6). So consider this our notice: banned items stay out of the box.

No — and where it goes instead

Small businesses are different: the county collections accept waste from registered very small quantity generators, so call the Cape Cod Cooperative Extension before you plan around one. If you are outside Falmouth, check your own town's transfer station page for what it takes and from whom.

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). On top of that, Massachusetts bans white goods, meaning large appliances, from disposal. So fridges, freezers, washers, dryers and window units stay out of our boxes. If you would rather not deal with them yourself, our junk removal service takes refrigerators, washers, dryers and stoves, and sorts items for recycling or proper disposal.

Asbestos in Massachusetts

Before any demolition or renovation, the owner or operator must have an asbestos inspector thoroughly survey the building for suspect material (310 CMR 7.15(4)), and MassDEP says that applies to a structure of any age. Suspect materials include asphalt roofing and siding, roofing felts and tars, and cement or transite shingles. Asbestos removal needs a MassDEP notification ten working days before work starts, filed by the licensed abatement contractor. The separate demolition notice (AQ 06) is not needed for a residential building with fewer than 20 units, but the survey still is.

MassDEP says asbestos waste may not be sent to a combustion facility or to a construction and demolition processor, and asbestos-containing shingles must not be dropped or thrown to the ground. On the Cape, the Falmouth and Barnstable facilities refuse anything containing asbestos, Truro takes no asbestos of any kind, including shingles, and Eastham and Wellfleet list it as not accepted. Never put asbestos in a roll-off.

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

It pays to sort the way the waste bans do. A clean load of concrete, brick or asphalt can go straight to recycling; the same material mixed into a remodel load has to be pulled out at a handling facility. Remodel and tear-out debris is a different load again, and MassDEP's exemption for small loads of five cubic yards or less does not cover a roll-off. Yard waste is a third load: keep it separate from construction debris and household trash so it can go to a green-waste facility. Household junk from a cleanout is a fourth, and the one most likely to hide a mattress, a bag of clothes or an old TV.

Light household debris can usually be mixed, but talk to us before adding concrete, brick or roofing. Keep brush and leaves in their own load, flatten cardboard, and do not mix a household cleanout into a remodel box without telling us. If your project has both organic and non-organic debris, we can provide separate containers. If you are not sure where something belongs, call before you load it.