Mini dumpsters? Are they a thing?

October 7, 2012 10:19 PM

My mom is coming to help me clear out excess stuff from my apartment in a few weeks. In my ideal world, we'd be able to rent a rollable, roughly refrigerator-box-size mini dumpster for the stuff we're not donating, which someone else would take away when full. Does anything like this actually exist? I'm in Brooklyn.

If this doesn't exist, I'll just buy a big rolling trash can for the weekend. I'll be much more likely to get rid of stuff if i don't have to take it out of my apartment one bag at a time.

posted by ocherdraco to home & garden (7 answers total)

I don't know if this exists in New York, but Home Depot sells the Bagster, a "dumpster bag" which can be picked up by Waste Management (for an extra fee).
posted by pullayup at 10:28 PM on October 7, 2012 [4 favorites]

Wow. That is more heavy duty than I was thinking of, but it's awesome that such a thing exists.
posted by ocherdraco at 10:37 PM on October 7, 2012

Is 5 cubic yards too big? That's the typical "mini dumpster" you see. This place offers those plus truly tiny 1/2 cubic yard containers. But you should google to compare prices because there are a ton of similar companies in the area.

(If this is all too much, maybe you could plan to do your cleanup on trash day, so the trash bin you normally use is nice and empty?)
posted by acidic at 10:46 PM on October 7, 2012 [1 favorite]

Yes, they do have "mini" dumpsters. Can't think of the proper term at the moment, but just call your trash company &you can rent one. They will deliver it & then you call them to schedule pick up when you are done with it.
posted by vignettist at 10:49 PM on October 7, 2012

I have used three different companies for "dumpster rental" work here in Chicago, none of which seem to operate in NYC. I did manage to find a list of businesses operating in Brooklyn that seem to offer roughly the same services -- fill it up and they will haul it off. You'll need to do some calling around but it is definitely worth it, you get into a great throwing-things-out rhythm this way.

Bagster looks cool, three cubic yards is not that big depending on what you are getting rid of, and is available for pickup in Brooklyn. On preview, I filled a 10-yard container on a move a few years ago, but I don't know how much of that was my neighbors dumping stuff in the middle of the night.
posted by cgk at 10:53 PM on October 7, 2012

Another option is 800-Got-Junk or College Hunks Hauling Junk. If you want dudes to come by and actually pick it up and get rid of it for you. It's about $500, but they help with the schlepping.
posted by Ruthless Bunny at 5:58 AM on October 8, 2012

2nding Bagster. They tested it out on Young House Love, if you want to see how it works, capacity, etc.
posted by Flamingo at 6:50 AM on October 8, 2012