What You Can't Put in a Dumpster in California — and Where It Goes

Our rule, and how mixing changes the bill

Our rate sheet has one line on prohibited items: "No electronics, tires or hazardous materials." Everything below falls under that line or under a California law that keeps a material out of the trash. Where we haven't published a policy (mattresses, furniture, most appliances), this guide says ask us. We don't guess.

The same sheet sets how materials share a bin, which decides the price:

• Absolutely no green waste or roots in loads designated for only concrete or brick.
• Any debris/trash combined in a dumpster with dirt, concrete, brick or green waste will be weighed and billed at debris/trash rates.
• All mixed loads are dumped at the landfill and charged by weight.
• Overfilled dumpster (above the red line): additional charges may apply.

Heavy loads have flat rates in 12 to 25 yard bins, filled only to the 10-cubic-yard fill line: $775 for clean concrete or clean dirt, $950 for dirt and concrete together, and $950 flat for clean brick. The 40-yard has no heavy-load rate. See pricing.

Paint, chemicals and other household hazardous waste

CalRecycle: "It is illegal to dispose of hazardous waste in the garbage, down storm drains, or onto the ground." Its list of wastes banned from the trash includes latex and oil-based paint, non-empty aerosol cans, solvents such as paint thinner, pesticides and herbicides, some pool chemicals and cleaners, antifreeze, motor oil and filters, and car batteries.

In Orange County, OC Waste & Recycling runs four free drop-off centers for residents:

• Limits: 15 gallons or 125 lb per vehicle, per trip. No containers larger than 5 gallons. Lids on, sturdy, not leaking, labeled.
• Residents only. Proof of county residence may be requested. Waste from businesses, churches, schools, nonprofits and government agencies isn't accepted. Contractors: use the county's business referral list.
• Size caps: propane tanks up to 5 gallons, fire extinguishers up to 40 lb.
• Free reuse: the Materials Exchange lets residents take home up to 5 partly used products a week.

Two other free routes: PaintCare sites take house paint, primers, stains, sealers and clear coats in original containers up to 5 gallons (not aerosols, thinners or solvents), and certified used-oil centers take motor oil, though a center may cap it at 5 gallons a day.

Batteries, lamps, mercury and electronics

California's Department of Toxic Substances Control groups eight kinds of everyday hazardous waste as universal waste: batteries, electronic waste, CRTs, CRT glass, lamps, mercury wastes, non-empty aerosol cans and PV (solar) modules. In DTSC's words, "These items cannot be discarded in household trash nor disposed of in landfills." CalRecycle's ban covers all batteries, "AAA, AA, C, D, button cell, 9-volt, and all others", plus fluorescent tubes, metal halide and sodium vapor lamps, and mercury thermostats, thermometers and switches.

For electronics, the state's Electronic Waste Recycling Act of 2003 covers video display devices with a screen larger than 4 inches: CRT, LCD, plasma and OLED TVs and monitors, laptops, tablets and portable DVD players. Our rule is wider. No electronics of any kind go in our bins, which also means microwaves, printers, stereos, game consoles, phones and smoke detectors.

OC's HHW centers take most of it: TVs and monitors, computers, phones, printers, microwaves, stereos, game consoles, photovoltaic panels, batteries (e-bike batteries too), fluorescent tubes, CFLs and mercury thermostats.

Tires

Tires are on our prohibited list by name. The state bans them from the trash too. CalRecycle: "Tires are not hazardous but are banned from the trash to avoid mosquito breeding and tire fires."

OC's landfills and HHW centers don't accept tires. OC Waste & Recycling's advice: "Some tire shops or auto supply retailers will accept tires for recycling, reach out to local businesses to confirm." CalRecycle keeps a tire facility search. Anyone who transports 10 or more used or waste tires needs a waste tire hauler registration.

Treated wood: fence posts, deck framing, railroad ties

Treated wood is "wood that has been treated with a chemical preservative for purposes of protecting the wood against attacks from insects, microorganisms, fungi, and other environmental conditions" (Health & Safety Code §25230.1). OC Waste & Recycling's examples: fence posts, sill plates, landscape timbers, pilings, guardrails, decking, patio wood and posts, and railroad ties. It usually has a light brown to dark green tint.

What applies in 2026: AB 332 (2021) wrote the old alternative management standards into law at Health & Safety Code §25230 and following. It is still in force. It can only be repealed on or after January 1, 2030, and only if DTSC tells the Legislature by July 1, 2028 that it's ready to manage treated wood under the full hazardous waste laws. Under it, treated wood waste may only go to a class I hazardous waste landfill or a composite-lined cell of an approved solid waste landfill. That's why it can't ride in a mixed debris load. A household that keeps its own treated wood waste on site for no more than 30 days is exempt from the accumulation rules, and households are exempt from the recordkeeping rules.

Appliances, mattresses and furniture

Health & Safety Code §25212(a): "Materials that require special handling that are contained in major appliances shall not be disposed of at a solid waste facility and shall be removed from major appliances" before the appliance is crushed, shredded or disposed of. DTSC's guidance names the parts: refrigerants, PCB capacitors, compressor and other oils, mercury switches and circuit boards. Only a Certified Appliance Recycler may pull them, except that a federally certified technician may remove refrigerant alone.

• Refrigerators, freezers, air conditioners, dehumidifiers: keep them out. State law says the refrigerant and other special-handling parts come out first, and only a certified appliance recycler may pull them.
• Washers, dryers, stoves, dishwashers, water heaters: we haven't published a policy. Ask us.
• Where they go: OC landfills accept appliances "from individual residents" but "not from haulers or commercial businesses." Many city haulers also offer bulky-item pickup.

Mattresses are legal to landfill, but we haven't published a mattress policy, so ask first. Free options: California law requires a retailer delivering a new mattress to offer to take the old one at no extra cost (Bye Bye Mattress), and OC Waste & Recycling takes mattresses free from residents at Prima Deshecha and Olinda Alpha. Furniture is the same: legal, no published policy from us, so ask when you book.

Asbestos and lead paint: test before you tear out

CalRecycle lists asbestos among wastes banned from the trash: "Asbestos is in some older cement, roofing, flooring, and siding." OC's HHW centers don't accept it. South Coast AQMD Rule 1403 requires the building or component to be "thoroughly surveyed for the presence of asbestos prior to any demolition or renovation activity," and a notice to the district 10 working days ahead. Under the rule, asbestos-containing material means more than 1% asbestos. There are exemptions, including one for an owner-occupant renovating a single-unit home. Check whether your job needs a survey and notice.

EPA lists these home products as possible asbestos sources:

• Vinyl floor tiles, the backing on sheet vinyl, and flooring adhesives
• Textured paint and patching compounds on walls and ceilings, such as older popcorn ceilings
• Vermiculite attic and wall insulation
• Roofing and siding shingles
• Pipe coatings, blankets and tape on hot-water and steam pipes
• Millboard, paper or cement sheets around wood stoves; oil and coal furnace door gaskets

Lead paint. EPA's Renovation, Repair and Painting rule applies to paid work that disturbs paint in homes built before 1978. Homeowners working on their own home aren't covered. Under federal law, contained lead-paint debris from a home renovation counts as household waste and can go to a municipal landfill. We haven't confirmed how California classifies it, so tell us before it goes in.

Sharps, medications, ammunition and gas cylinders

• Sharps: "California law prohibits disposal of home-generated sharps waste in the trash or recycling containers." Take needles and lancets to any OC HHW center in a heavy-duty, puncture-resistant container with a tight lid, such as an empty detergent bottle.
• Medications: OC Waste & Recycling says most can go in household trash with precautions, but the HHW centers don't take prescription medication. Drop boxes are the safer route.
• Ammunition, explosives, fireworks, marine flares: not accepted at the HHW centers. Ask your police station or sheriff about ammunition take-back days. For fireworks and explosives, call the OC Sheriff's Hazardous Device Section at (714) 538-2694 or the Orange County Fire Authority. Road flares from residents do go to the HHW centers.
• Gas cylinders: propane tanks up to 5 gallons go to the HHW centers. Helium tanks and high-pressure cylinders (acetylene, oxygen, SCUBA) don't. Call 714-834-4000 for where.