The no list is three items long: oil, batteries, asbestos. Everything else on a normal job goes in the dumpster, and you do not have to sort it. Concrete in with the drywall, shingles in with the furniture, a refrigerator on top of a hot tub. One dumpster, no separating, no penalty for mixing.
That is a shorter no list than most haulers publish, and the why is short enough to give rather than just asserting it. Oil and batteries are hazardous waste with their own disposal chain and the transfer station will reject a load containing them. Asbestos needs an abatement contractor and a manifest, and Devin has never run one, so the honest answer is that we are not the people for it. If you think you have asbestos in old floor tile or pipe wrap, stop and get it tested before anybody puts a hammer through it.
Three things go in but cost extra: mattresses, tires and some appliances. Those get pulled out and billed separately at the transfer station, so they carry an item charge on your invoice. Count them out on the phone when you book and the quote includes them. Nobody enjoys finding a line item they did not expect, and the reason we publish prices is so the invoice is boring.
The material that actually changes your decision is the heavy stuff. Concrete, brick, asphalt, dirt and roofing shingles all go in, and they are all fine, but they weigh several times what an equal volume of household junk weighs. Every load crosses a certified scale and you pay $60 a ton past your allowance off the printed ticket. So a load of concrete is not a question of whether we will take it, it is a question of which size makes the tonnage work. Usually that is a smaller dumpster than you would guess, filled part way. Say the word concrete on the phone and Devin will plan it with you.
Appliances need one more note because the rules moved. Refrigerators and freezers contain refrigerant that has to be recovered, which is why they carry a charge. Washers, dryers, stoves and dishwashers generally do not. TVs and computer monitors go in as e-waste. If you are clearing a kitchen, list what is in it and you will get a number that includes all of it.
Yard waste, brush and stumps are fine. So are fence panels, decking, above-ground pool liners, carpet, and the entire contents of a storage unit somebody stopped paying for.
The complete accepted and prohibited list lives on the what goes in page, and if the job is a full clearout the estate cleanout page covers how those usually run.
Paint deserves its own paragraph because it comes up on every cleanout. Dried-out latex paint goes in. Liquid paint does not, and the cheap fix is to leave the lids off in the sun for a few days or throw cat litter in the paint can, at which point it is a solid and it goes in. Oil-based paint and stain are a different story and belong at a household hazardous waste collection.
Propane tanks are a no, including the small camping ones, because a sealed pressure vessel in a load headed for a compactor is a genuine hazard rather than a paperwork problem. Grill tanks can go back to any exchange cage. Fuel cans need to be empty and dry.
The question we get most from contractors is about treated lumber and old windows, and both are fine. Pressure-treated decking, railroad ties, single-pane windows with the glazing putty still on them, plaster and lath off an old ceiling: all of it goes in the same load with everything else. Plaster is the one to flag on the phone, because a house full of it is heavier than a house full of drywall by a wide margin.
If something is genuinely borderline, the answer is a phone call rather than a guess. A rejected load at the transfer station costs everybody a trip.
Not sure about something specific? Call 864-881-DUMP and ask before it goes in. That call takes a minute and saves a rejected load.