Once you’ve packed up all your belongings, or completed your extensive bout of spring cleaning, you may find yourself with an abundance of junk. This junk usually encompasses garbage, recycling, broken furniture and any old items you decided to discard. Hiring a junk removal company to haul out your unwanted trash is a convenience that you may not have the money for, especially if you just put a down payment on a new house or paid any of the other countless expenses that come with relocating. In this case, you may want to save your money and instead, dispose of the waste yourself. Here are a few tips for DIY junk removal.
Rent a small truck, or borrow a pick-up truck. If you’re doing some serious cleaning or moving, you will undoubtedly have a lot of trash to get rid of. You are not going to want to put that trash inside your car to bring it to a landfill, so your best bet is to rent or borrow a pick-up truck from a friend or truck rental company.
Keep track of your waste and divide it up accordingly. To be as efficient as possible, it’s important to keep track of the waste you accumulate and divide it up according to material. This will help make sure the trips go as smoothly as possible.
Recycle before dumping garbage. To reduce your environmental impact, always separate recyclables from the rest of your trash. Dispose of recyclable items beforehand so that you do not accidentally take them to the dump. Recycling centers will accept aluminum cans, plastic bottles, paper items, glass items and cardboard free of charge. In some states including New York, Maine and Hawaii, you can get money back per item for recycling glass or aluminum cans.
Contact your county landfill before bringing your junk over to hammer out the details and ensure you are bringing the correct amount of money for the amount of trash you’re throwing out. Some county landfills don’t charge citizens for dumping, while others charge a flat rate or a fee after dumping a certain amount. Because some landfills charge to dump, many people decide to just hire a junk removal company instead of transporting the trash and then paying to dump it.
Before deciding to haul your junk yourself, you must take into consideration the possibility of hidden fees. Many truck rental companies charge exorbitant rates based on fuel or milage. There are also always the possibilities of risking personal injury, car accident or property damage. When you hire a professional trash removal company, you are trusting someone who is insured against damages. If your garbage falls out of the back of your pick-up truck, for example, and damages another car on the road, your truck is probably not insured for that kind of damage, which may result in a higher payment than if you had just hired a junk removal company from the very beginning.
