What Can You Put in a Dumpster And What Goes Elsewhere

The short list of what goes in

Think of a roll-off as the home for solid, dry, non-hazardous debris. In a Wellington house that usually means:

• old furniture, mattresses, rugs and carpet pad;
• kitchen cabinets, countertops, vanities and fixtures;
• drywall, tile, flooring, doors and trim from a remodel;
• shingles, underlayment and roof tile from a tear-off;
• fence panels, shed walls, pool-cage framing and pallets;
• tree limbs, hedge cuttings and other yard waste.

Several of these are items the village will not take at the curb. Wellington's curbside construction debris service stops at 2 cubic yards a week and refuses concrete, rock, fencing and pallets outright, which is exactly why those materials end up in a container.

Why the mix inside the box changes the bill

Everything in the box is weighed when it reaches the Solid Waste Authority, and what is mixed together decides the rate. The authority's schedule effective October 1, 2026 charges $95 a ton for construction debris and large vegetation, $42 for garbage and trash and $35 for yard vegetation, and it states that open-top roll-off containers are generally charged the construction rate. A mixed load pays the higher category. Throwing kitchen trash on top of a box of palm fronds does not save space; it turns the whole load into the more expensive kind.

Heavy materials also limit where the truck can unload. The county's transfer stations, including the Royal Palm Beach station on Weisman Way, cannot accept concrete, block, tile, roofing material, construction lumber, fencing or dirt. Those loads ride out to the landfill complex on Jog Road. Concrete and roof tile are dense, so they belong in a smaller box filled only part way.

What has to go somewhere else

Some things should never be in a roll-off, both because the landfill rejects them and because they can injure the driver or the people sorting the load:

• Paint, solvents, pesticides, pool chemicals and cleaners. Palm Beach County residents can drop these off for free at any of the Solid Waste Authority's seven Home Chemical and Recycling Centers, at the transfer stations and the Jog Road campus.
• Batteries and propane cylinders. The same centers take automotive, marine, lithium and rechargeable batteries and compressed gas cylinders.
• Old televisions and computers. Electronics are accepted at the chemical and recycling centers as well.
• Tires. The chemical and recycling centers list tires among the items they refuse, so ask the hauler how to handle them before they go anywhere near the container.
• Liquids of any kind, including leftover paint that is still wet.

Pool chemicals deserve a special mention in a village with this many backyard pools: a half-used bucket of chlorine tablets dropped into a box of debris is a fire and fume risk, not just a rule violation.

Manure is its own category

On the equestrian side of Wellington, the big exception is livestock waste. Manure, together with the bedding and feed mixed into it, is charged at $35 a ton but accepted only at Renewable Energy Facility No. 2 on Jog Road, and the transfer stations never take animal waste. Village code also requires manure containers to sit on a lipped concrete or asphalt pad set back from drains, water and wells, hauled by a registered hauler. So a barn cleanout needs two plans: an ordinary roll-off for mats, fencing and broken stall boards, and a compliant bin for the manure. The barn, stable and farm cleanout dumpsters page explains how that split works.

Before the box arrives

Walk the house or the barn and pull out anything from the "somewhere else" list first; a load that arrives at the scale with a car battery or a gas can in it costs time for everyone. For a garage, an estate or a whole-house clear-out, start with home and garage cleanout dumpsters. Sizes, included weight and typical Wellington-area rates are set out on the pricing page.