Dumpsters Fort Lauderdale: which container suits which job

Dumpsters Fort Lauderdale is an independent referral service, not a dumpster company. When you call or send the form, your request goes to an independent local roll-off provider that quotes the rental, delivers the container and hauls it away.

If you already know you need a roll-off and want to know how the rental itself works, read how a Fort Lauderdale dumpster rental works. If you want the sizes side by side, they are on the homepage size chart.

Two families of dumpster

Almost every container you see around Fort Lauderdale falls into one of two families.

• Front-load and rear-load bins. The smaller containers with lids that sit behind shops, restaurants and apartment buildings. A garbage truck empties them on a schedule and leaves them in place. They are for ongoing trash, not for a one-off project.
• Roll-off containers. Open-top steel boxes delivered by a truck with a tilting bed, filled over days or weeks and then hauled away whole. These are the containers for cleanouts, remodels, roofs, construction and storm cleanups.

When people search for a dumpster for a project, they almost always mean a roll-off. That is what this site connects you with. Ongoing trash service for a business or an apartment building is a separate arrangement; in Fort Lauderdale, commercial and multi-family properties contract with a hauler authorized to operate in the city.

Matching the container to the project

The right container depends less on the size of your house than on what the debris is. Light, bulky debris and heavy, dense debris need very different containers even when the volume is the same.

Household cleanouts

Furniture, boxes, mattresses, old toys, broken appliances and the contents of a garage or an attic. This debris is bulky and fairly light, so the container fills up by space. Most whole-house cleanouts fit a 20 or 30 yard roll-off; a single garage or one room usually fits a 10 or 20 yard. The residential dumpster rental page goes into home cleanouts in detail.

Kitchen and bathroom remodels

Cabinets, counters, fixtures, drywall and tile. The cabinets and drywall are bulky; the tile and any concrete backer board are heavy. A kitchen often fits a 20 yard, a bathroom a 10 yard, but a remodel heavy in tile may be better split: a small container for the heavy material and a larger one for the rest.

Roof replacements

Shingles, tile, underlayment and sometimes old decking. Roofing debris is heavy for its size, so roofers usually ask for a 20 or 30 yard and keep a close eye on the weight. Many roofers arrange their own container; if yours does not, tell the provider whether the roof is shingle or tile and roughly how big the house is.

Construction and demolition

Framing lumber, drywall offcuts, packaging, old siding and mixed demolition debris. Builders use 30 and 40 yard containers for the bulky phases and swap them as they fill, with a smaller container for concrete and block. The construction debris guide covers swaps and job-site placement.

Yard waste and storm debris

Palm fronds, branches, hedge trimmings and fallen limbs. Florida keeps yard trash out of Class I landfills, so this debris is often handled as a load of its own. See the yard waste dumpster page.

Concrete, tile, pavers and dirt

The heaviest loads of all. A patio, a pool deck or a tile floor fills a container’s weight allowance long before it fills its space, so heavy debris usually goes in a small container, kept clean of other material. The concrete dumpster guide explains why.

Sizes in brief

Roll-off containers are named by the cubic yards they hold. Exact measures and weight allowances vary from provider to provider, so treat these as starting points and confirm them on the quote.

Size	Typical project	Debris
10 yard	Bathroom, garage, patio tear-out	Heavy or small loads
20 yard	Kitchen, flooring, most house cleanouts	Mixed household and remodel debris
30 yard	Large renovation, roof, estate cleanout	Bulky mixed debris, roofing
40 yard	Construction, commercial cleanouts	Light, bulky debris

The size chart on the homepage shows the same sizes with drawings to scale.

Containers people sometimes confuse with dumpsters

• City bulk pickup. Fort Lauderdale homes on city sanitation service get bulk trash collected once a month, in a pile up to 10 cubic yards. It is free with city service but does not take dirt, sod, sand, pavers, concrete or tiles. See bulk trash or a dumpster.
• Junk removal. A crew loads your items into a truck and drives off. Useful when you cannot or do not want to load anything yourself.
• Debris bags. Large bags that some companies sell and collect. They suit very small jobs; ask about weight and what goes in, since rules vary by company.

For anything bigger than a few loads, or with heavy debris, a roll-off is usually the simplest choice. The roll-off dumpster rental page compares it with these options in more detail.

What never goes in, whatever the container

Florida keeps lead-acid batteries, used oil, white goods and whole waste tires out of landfills, and yard trash out of Class I landfills. Paint, solvents and other chemicals stay out of a dumpster too. If your project turns up any of these, set them aside and ask the provider what it accepts before they go in.

Describing your project when you call

Whatever the container, the provider will ask the same things. Have answers ready:

1. The project: cleanout, remodel, roof, construction, yard or heavy debris.
2. The debris: what it is and roughly how much, in rooms, squares or truckloads.
3. The spot: driveway, lot or street, and anything overhead.
4. The dates: when you need it and for how long.

With that, the provider can suggest the kind and size of container, quote the rental and plan the delivery. For a checklist to keep by the phone, see what to have ready to rent a dumpster.

A word on neighborhoods

Where you are in the city matters as much as what you are throwing away. A canal-front lot, a condo building and a single-family street each place a container differently. The page on dumpsters in Fort Lauderdale neighborhoods looks at placement street by street.

One project, two containers

Some projects are better served by two smaller containers than one large one. A remodel that produces both tile and cabinets, a pool deck job with concrete and old furniture from the patio, or a cleanout followed by a roof: in each case, splitting heavy debris from light debris keeps each container within its weight allowance and may let the heavy material go to a recycler. Ask the provider whether it suggests one container or two for your job.

Containers for businesses and job sites

Businesses renovating a shop, an office or a restaurant use roll-offs just as homeowners do, sized for the fit-out. Ongoing trash service is a separate arrangement with a hauler; in Fort Lauderdale, commercial properties contract directly with a hauler authorized to operate in the city. For one-off projects, describe the space, the debris and any loading-dock or parking limits when you ask for a quote.

Questions people ask