What Can’t Go in a Dumpster in Aurora and Colorado

Published 2026-10-01 by Front Range Dumpsters

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, roofing, carpet, concrete, brick and plaster. A short list is kept out by Colorado law or by the landfill’s permit, and a load that includes them causes trouble at the scale house. Here is what stays out and where it goes instead.

Electronics

Colorado’s Electronic Recycling Jobs Act has banned electronic devices from landfills since July 1, 2013. That covers computers, printers, fax machines, DVD players, VCRs and peripherals, plus TVs, monitors, laptops, tablets and e-readers with a screen bigger than four inches. Appliances like washers, refrigerators and microwaves are not on the list. Electronics go to an electronics recycler, and our junk removal crew can take them.

Tires

State law sends waste tires to a tire collector, processor, monofill or collection facility rather than a landfill, and anyone hauling ten or more tires in one load has to be a registered waste tire hauler. Keep them out of the container. The Denver Arapahoe Disposal Site takes tires at its recycling center for an extra charge.

Paint and household chemicals

Leftover house paint goes back through PaintCare, Colorado’s paint stewardship program since 2015, free at many of the stores that sell paint; households and some businesses with 100 gallons or more can get a free pickup. Household chemicals, pesticides, pool chemicals and automotive products are household hazardous waste. In Aurora, Waste Management’s At Your Door program collects them for $10 (800.449.7587); in unincorporated Arapahoe County the same service is $20. Adams County’s drop-off voucher is open to residents of unincorporated Adams County, Bennett and Northglenn.

Liquids

The Denver Arapahoe Disposal Site, where much of the metro’s debris goes, does not accept hazardous or liquid waste. Drain anything liquid out first, and keep fuel, oil and solvents out entirely.

Mattresses and appliances

Mattresses can go in a roll-off, but they are bulky, so tell us how many. The City of Aurora points residents to Spring Back Colorado, the mattress recycler at 4975 Pontiac Street in Commerce City (720.515.1328). Appliances are accepted at the Denver Arapahoe Disposal Site’s recycling center for an extra charge; refrigerators, freezers and air conditioners need their refrigerant removed first.

Asbestos

Asbestos never rides in a mixed load. CDPHE requires a demolition approval notice for every demolition in Colorado, after an asbestos inspection by a Colorado-certified inspector, and any renovation that disturbs more than the trigger levels of suspect material has to be inspected first. Asbestos waste of any amount must go to an approved asbestos disposal site, and concrete or wood with asbestos floor tile or mastic on it cannot be recycled. Older homes in north-west Aurora, Park Hill and East Colfax are the ones to have tested before a gut renovation.

What the curb will not take

Aurora does not run household trash collection, so curbside rules are your hauler’s. Around Aurora, the city programs draw the same line: Denver’s Large Item Pickup takes up to five items and ten bags but no construction materials, appliances or electronics; Brighton’s Trash Bash drop-off takes no concrete or home-improvement debris; Thornton’s Click & Haul takes remodeling debris but no concrete or masonry; and Commerce City’s curbside cleanups take wood and drywall but not concrete or brick. Everything on those lists is what a roll-off is for.

What does go in

Household junk, furniture, carpet, wood, drywall, plaster, roofing shingles, concrete, brick, tile, siding, windows, cabinets and fixtures. Which is nearly everything. Call (720) 343-7409 if you are unsure about a specific item and we will tell you before you load it.

Front Range Dumpsters · 3555 Moline St, Aurora, CO 80010 · (720) 343-7409, answered 24/7.