How to Maximize the Space in a Dumpster

Whether you’re disposing of large quantities of stuff at work, or you’re doing some extensive spring cleaning at home, maximizing the space in your dumpster is a great way to save money and help the environment. Fortunately, ensuring you’re able to pack the most in your dumpster doesn’t have to be hard or complicated. With the right planning, you’ll be able to get rid of more junk without paying more for the privilege when you visit a company like Green Bins.

Start Big

An empty dumpster seems to hold limitless possibilities for junk disposal, but put a few large items in one, and you’ll see just how quickly it can fill up. Still, if you want to maximize your space, starting with large items is the best first step. That way, you have maximum space to arrange the larger items on the bottom of the dumpster to ensure you’re able to maximize the available space. Plus, you’ll end up with fewer items overlapping and creating large air pockets that end up as wasted space.

Bag It Up

If you have a lot of small, loose items, it’s best to bag as many of them as possible in large garbage bags, and then place the bags inside the dumpster. At first, this might not seem like the best plan, but if you consider each bag of garbage as a single unit, you can see how having several similarly-sized and shaped units would be helpful in maximizing the space in your dumpster. In order to ensure the air in each bag is able to escape, instead of being trapped in the dumpster, make sure you punch a hole in each bag before you get rid of it for good.

Smash It Down

Once you’ve gotten the large items and trash bags into the dumpster, it’s time to add some weight. To be sure, a lot of your weight will likely be found in the large items at the bottom of the dumpster, but other heavy items, such as pieces of drywall or lumber, rotten food, or other similar items, can be placed on top of the trash bags to compress the bags to be as small as possible, giving you much more room to work with in the dumpster. In having a compressed layer of trash bags, you will create a nice, even base to add the rest of the junk you need to put in the dumpster, plus you’ll ensure that you don’t have many small, loose items left over that need to be added at the end.

Fill It Up

After you’ve added the compacting layer, it’s time to fill in all the remaining space with small, loose items. This ensures that every last space is used so that nothing goes to waste. In addition, the extra weight will compress what’s underneath even more, creating the last little bit of space you need to add those last-minute items you forgot to put in earlier.

Keep It Clean

When the truck rolls away with your perfectly-packed dumpster, the next step is to avoid needing another dumpster in the near future. Stay on top of your junk so that it doesn’t become overwhelming, and use your newfound packing skills to maximize the space in your home or office, as well. Even if you don’t become an expert organizer, though, just using this method to successfully maximize your dumpster’s storage space is enough to consider this task a “job well done.”