Home Cleanout Dumpsters in Scranton, PA

Why a cleanout needs its own dumpster

Hauling a cleanout a few bags at a time, or making trip after trip to a disposal site, eats your weekends. Around Scranton, curbside trash is sized for weekly bags. The City's DPW picks up household garbage first and larger items only if there is room in the truck. Olyphant allows six bags per household at 15 pounds each and one furniture item per week; Mayfield three 32-gallon bags; Old Forge needs a sticker on every bag. Dunmore says: "CLEAN OUTS WILL NOT BE ACCEPTED!", and Dickson City's Spring Cleanup is "one pickup only at each house." A roll-off in the driveway changes the rhythm: you work continuously, toss as you go, and we haul it away in one pickup.

Match the size to the house

For a garage, attic or basement cleanout, a 10 or 15 yard is usually enough. A whole-home cleanout is usually a 20 yard, our most popular size. A 30 yard handles estate and move-out cleanouts with a lot of furniture, mattresses and household items, and a 40 covers large property cleanups and warehouse or office cleanouts. Furniture is bulky and light, so volume usually decides a cleanout before weight does. The sizing guide has the full table.

Plan, sort and work room by room

Walk the house first and list the spaces you are tackling. Then run every item through four piles, keep, donate, drop-off and toss, before anything goes in the bin. The drop-off pile is the short one: batteries, TVs and computers, tires, paint and solvents, propane tanks, and fridges, freezers or AC units cannot go in the box. Having the container on site makes the toss decision fast, because there is no pile of maybe items building up in the yard. Finish one space before moving to the next, starting with the one that bothers you most, often the garage.

• Garage and storage: old tools, broken equipment, leftover building materials; tires, batteries, fuel and motor oil go to the drop-off pile.
• Kitchen: cabinets, countertops and fixtures, small appliances without refrigerant; fridges and freezers go elsewhere (below).
• Bedrooms and closets: furniture, mattresses and boxes can all go in, or to donation.
• Attic and basement: stored boxes, old decor, keepsakes to sort; paint cans and chemicals to the drop-off pile.
• Yard: branches, shrubs, old fencing, patio furniture; brush and leaves best as their own load.

Time it to the job

The standard rental period is up to 7 days, which covers most single-house cleanouts, and your quote confirms the days. Need longer? Call to extend for an additional fee, or arrange a swap of a full box for an empty one. Finish early and we schedule a prompt pickup. You do not need to be present for delivery or pickup as long as we have clear instructions on where to place the dumpster, which helps when you are clearing a family member's home from out of town.

Plan the yard work too. Scranton collects brush, leaves and yard waste curbside at set times, Throop picks up leaves and grass every Monday, and Olyphant alternates grass and leaves with tree and bush trimmings from May to October. A cleanout with a lot of brush is easier with a separate yard waste dumpster, since yard waste does best as its own load and bagged household trash does not belong in it.

What cleanout junk can go in

Most household cleanout material is fine for a roll-off: furniture of every kind, mattresses, boxes and general junk, old flooring and carpet, cabinets and fixtures, and cardboard kept flat and together. Load smart: break down bulky items, spread the weight evenly rather than piling it at one end, fill the gaps with smaller pieces, and keep everything below the top rim, because overfilled dumpsters cannot be safely transported and may require adjustments before pickup. If the cleanout turns into a remodel, with cabinets coming off the walls or flooring coming up, tell us, and do not mix dirt or concrete in with household junk without checking first.

Set these aside, and where they go

A few things turn up in every cleanout that cannot go in the box. TVs, computers, monitors and computer peripherals are covered devices under Pennsylvania's Covered Device Recycling Act, and "no person may dispose of a covered device or any of its components with their municipal waste"; use the Mid-Valley Electronics Recycling Program, a City of Scranton electronics recycling event or your Borough's drop-off. Paint, solvents, automotive fluids, pesticides and batteries go to Lackawanna County's household hazardous waste event for county residents, with pre-registration. Propane tanks and tires stay out; the County runs tire drop-offs for residents. Fridges, freezers and AC units go through our junk removal service, which removes appliances with proper preparation when required. Usable furniture and household items can be donated, and our junk removal team recycles and donates whenever possible. The what-goes-in guide has the full list.

Driveways, tight streets and local rules

The driveway is the spot. A flat, stable surface works best, and for added protection you can place plywood or boards under the dumpster wheels. Allow about 60 feet of space for the truck and about 25 feet of overhead clearance, and tell us about tight access, a shared lot or a steep drive when you call; our drivers place dumpsters in tight driveways, narrow streets and busy job sites, and the compact 10 yard is made for tighter spaces in Scranton neighborhoods.

Local rules matter too. On a Scranton street, a roll-off needs a City permit and may stay for only one day unless an off-duty officer is engaged (City Code § 400-17), so we arrange the City's street permit or check the rules with you before booking. In Dickson City, household refuse from homes is reserved to the Borough's own collection (Ord. 9-2011 § 9), and a household clean-out is the grey area under that rule, so we check the Borough's rules before booking. Archbald and Jermyn require a Borough permit for every temporary dumpster, even in the driveway, and Archbald, Jermyn and Dalton reserve some hauling to the Borough or its collector, so we check the Borough's rules before booking there too. The permit guide has every town we list.

Delivery day, or let us do the lifting

Our dumpsters are clean and driveway-friendly. Give us a flat, stable spot with clear access for the truck, move cars out of the way, and mark the spot if you will not be home. Near homes we plan drop-offs and pickups for the daytime and do not promise night or Sunday service. If you would rather not lift a thing, ask about our junk removal service: you point, we remove, and our team handles the loading, hauling and disposal and recycles and donates whenever possible. Call (570) 354-0618 — the phone is answered 24 hours a day, 7 days a week — and ask about same-day delivery if the cleanout is already under way: we offer same-day or next-day delivery throughout Scranton and Lackawanna County depending on availability.