What Can’t Go in a Dumpster in Pennsylvania

Published 2026-09-30 by Lancaster Dumpster Services

Why the list exists

Most of what comes out of a house or a job site goes straight into one of our containers: furniture, wood, drywall, plaster, roofing, carpet, brick, block. Pennsylvania keeps a specific set of things out of landfills because they are hazardous, recyclable by law, or both, and LCSWMA’s transfer station will reject a container that has them in it. Here is what stays out and where it goes instead.

Electronics

Under the Covered Device Recycling Act, since January 2013 no computers, monitors, peripherals or TVs may go in a landfill or in the trash anywhere in Pennsylvania. LCSWMA’s household hazardous waste facility at 1299 Harrisburg Pike takes up to ten electronic items a day from county residents, free. Our junk-removal crew routes electronics there rather than into a landfill load.

Tires, lead-acid batteries and leaf waste

Act 190 bars whole tires from Pennsylvania landfills; LCSWMA takes car tires separately at a small per-tire charge. Act 101 § 1510 keeps lead-acid batteries out of municipal waste, and any retailer takes them back. Act 101 § 1502 says a landfill may not accept a load composed primarily of leaf waste, which is why a leaf and grass clean-up goes in a container of its own to Frey Farm Landfill in Conestoga, the one county site that takes yard waste. State rules also bar explosives, hazardous waste and free liquids of a gallon or more.

Paint and household chemicals

Latex paint is not hazardous: dry it out with kitty litter or a hardener and the solid can go in the trash. Oil-based paint, stains, varnishes and thinners, fuels, cleaners, pool chemicals, batteries and mercury items go to LCSWMA’s household hazardous waste facility at 1299 Harrisburg Pike, Monday to Friday 7 to 4 and Saturday 7 to 11, free for county residents and not open to businesses. It does not take appliances, empty cans, LED or incandescent bulbs or gas cylinders. The general line is (717) 397-9968.

Fluorescent lamps

Fluorescent lamps are hazardous waste for a business under the universal-waste rules and cannot go in a commercial load. Households are exempt from the rule, but the lamps contain mercury and LCSWMA takes mercury items at the HHW facility, so they are better there than broken in a container.

Refrigerators, freezers and air conditioners

Anything that still holds refrigerant needs the gas recovered by a certified technician under section 608 of the Clean Air Act before it is scrapped. LCSWMA recovers refrigerant on the appliances it takes at the transfer station, and the City collects white goods on the third Friday of the month with a $15 tag. Our junk removal crew handles the recovery and disposal; a fridge does not go in a dumpster with the gas still in it.

Asbestos

Friable asbestos, the kind that crumbles by hand, is special handling waste in Pennsylvania and never goes in a dumpster. LCSWMA takes it only by arrangement, in one-ton minimum loads at a premium rate, and DEP requires a notification ten working days before a demolition ($400 fee), with private residences of four units or fewer exempt from the DEP notice. Abatement is done by contractors certified by the Department of Labor and Industry (717-772-3396). Older Lancaster rowhomes can have asbestos in floor tile, siding, pipe insulation and plaster, so have suspect material tested before a gut renovation.

What the City of Lancaster will not collect either

If you were thinking of skipping the dumpster and using the City cans: the City’s refuse rules (§ 258-33) treat construction debris, hazardous waste, white goods, tires, yard waste, electronics and oversized items as separate streams, collection is limited to six containers a week at 32 gallons and 30 pounds each, and the Solid Waste Hotline is 717-291-4744. The City’s drop-off centre is at 850 New Holland Avenue. Everything else is what a roll-off is for.

What does go in

Household junk, furniture, mattresses, carpet, wood, drywall, plaster, roofing shingles, concrete, brick, block, tile, siding, windows, cabinets and fixtures. Which is nearly everything. Call (717) 621-3603 if you are unsure about a specific item and we will tell you before you load it.

Lancaster Dumpster Services · Lancaster, PA · (717) 621-3603, answered 24/7.