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: drywall, lumber and plywood, doors, trim and windows, cabinets and countertops, carpet, laminate and tile, insulation, pallets and packaging.
• Roofing: asphalt shingles, underlayment and flashing — not a banned material, but heavy, so mind the weight allowance.
• Concrete, brick, asphalt, stone and dirt — within the weight limits of a smaller box, ideally kept as a clean load.
• Cardboard — flattened and kept together, so it can be recycled.
• Yard debris: branches and limbs, leaves and grass clippings, shrubs, soil, sod, mulch and small stumps — as its own load.
• Small non-hazardous appliances that hold no refrigerant — ask if you are unsure.

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 goes 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. The Highway Department fees above are from the Town's sheet updated February 2024 — call 508-285-0239 to check before you go.

Our no list, and why

Our own no list: paints and solvents, oils and automotive fluids, fuel and other flammable liquids, tires, batteries, hazardous chemicals, propane tanks, gas cylinders and other pressurized containers, medical waste, asbestos-containing materials and appliances containing refrigerant unless properly serviced. For a yard waste box, also leave out treated and pressure-treated lumber, plastic containers and planters, chemicals and fertilizers, bagged household trash and hazardous materials. If you are unsure about something, call (508) 952-9763 before you load it — 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 Norton's Board of Health asks every licensed hauler for a written pledge to follow the bans (Reg. Ch. 11). So consider this our notice: banned items stay out of the box.

No — and where it goes instead

Business hazardous waste is different: town collection days are for residents, and several towns, including Wrentham and Plainville, have suspended theirs. If you are outside Norton, check your own town's page.

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 — large appliances — from disposal. So fridges, freezers, washers, dryers and window units stay out of our boxes, and only small non-hazardous appliances go in. If you would rather not deal with a fridge or an A/C unit yourself, our junk removal service takes appliances with the Freon properly removed and sends recyclable materials to recycling whenever possible.

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 at $100 per notification. 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. 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. Household junk from a cleanout is a third load, and the one most likely to hide a mattress, a bag of clothes or an old TV.

So keep brush and leaves in their own load, keep heavy concrete and brick apart from everything else, flatten cardboard, and do not mix a household cleanout into a remodel box without telling us. Whenever possible we send metal, concrete, asphalt, cardboard, clean wood and yard waste to recycling. If you are not sure where something belongs, call before you load it.