Tag: Waste Safety

What Isn’t Safe to Throw Away in Your Dumpster?

What Isn't Safe to Throw Away in Your Dumpster?
What Isn’t Safe to Throw Away in Your Dumpster?

Some things shouldn’t be thrown away because recycling them is so easy—like aluminum cans. Other things truly cannot be thrown away because of laws, regulations, or a company’s environmental ethics. If your organization has not established what items are unacceptable for the dumpster, then it’s time to make a list.

At DJ Products, we’re often stressing the importance of safety for employees who use and maneuver dumpsters with our WasteCaddy dumpster mover. It’s also important to be safe about what items go into the dumpster, in terms of both worker injury and eco-friendly practices.

Common Items That You Can’t Throw Away in a Dumpster

Prohibited items can vary depending on state and local laws or the rules of your trash collection service. Whether prohibited or not, you should think twice about these kinds of items:

• Items with environmental hazards: computers, electronics, rechargeable batteries, appliances that contain refrigerant such as mini fridges and window air conditioners, CFL light bulbs and other items containing mercury.

• Flammable items: gasoline, butane, and other fuels, oil and lubricants, and liquids such as paint, varnish, and wood stain.

• Other dangerous materials: medical supplies such as syringes, sharps, and scalpels. For dangerous items like broken glass and ceramics, use heavy paper bags to prevent injury.

• Check with your city or collection company: construction and demolition waste including dirt, rock, concrete, drywall, roofing shingles, etc.

More About Dumpster Safety

Many of our clients purchase a WasteCaddy dumpster mover after discovering that an alarming percentage of worker compensation claims are related to dumpster duty. Contact us at DJ Products or read more about our WasteCaddy dumpster mover and bin pullers.

How to Take the Risk Out of the Trash Room

How to Take the Risk Out of the Trash Room
How to Take the Risk Out of the Trash Room

Handling trash is no excuse for neglecting the cleanliness of your dumpster room. In addition to being an eyesore that affects your professional reputation, a messy trash room is a safety hazard for members of your staff.

Tom Van Sickle, general manager of DJ Products, explains the negative impact of a sloppy trash room and offers tips for maintaining a tidy and safe dumpster area.

Drawbacks of a Messy Trash Room

• Overall productivity suffers when you have to hire temporary or permanent replacements for injured staff members.

• Many cities impose fines if trash is not well-contained.

• If you’re a property manager, you’ll find that poor waste management affects tenant morale, resulting in complaints, high resident turnover and bad online reviews.

The Key to Effective Trash Removal

A sloppy trash room usually results from a lack of proper equipment. Dumpsters are heavy and bulky, making them difficult to move with two people. Therefore, staff members resist putting forth the effort when they’re at risk of incurring a serious injury.

Our WasteCaddy electric dumpster mover allows a single employee to maneuver trash bins weighing up to 5,000 pounds, even on inclines, or snow and ice. One of our satisfied clients refers to the WasteCaddy as “an extra employee.”

WasteCaddy: Eco-Friendly Solution to Trash Management Problems

Put your staff to work on more important tasks. We have the right dumpster mover to fulfill the needs of any operation, big or small. Call 800.686.2651 or use our convenient online chat feature to consult with one of our friendly sales engineers.

Some Plastics Become Trash as They Are No Longer Profitably Recycled

Some Plastics End Up in Trash if They Are Not Properly Recycled
Some Plastics End Up in Trash if They Are Not Properly Recycled

Americans have long been educated about the importance of recycling as a means of preserving the environment, but many don’t realize that it’s also a lucrative commodities business. Today, though, companies are seeing their profits dry up due to low crude oil and natural gas prices.

Falling Fuel Prices Cause Dwindling Recycling Profits

Fracking in Texas and other shale-rich parts of the country has resulted in significantly lower fuel prices. Over the past two years, crude oil has dropped nearly 60 percent while natural gas has dropped just over 40 percent. The cost of raw materials is now competitive with recycled materials, and even less expensive in some cases.

Effects on Recyclers and Municipal Clients

Most recycling is done for environmental reasons, so that segment sees no drop-off due to the price changes. Municipalities that count on recycling profits to pay their trash removal costs are bearing the brunt of the downturn.

The second-quarter report from Waste Management, the country’s largest trash collecting company, revealed a $5 million loss in recycling revenues largely caused by lost or renegotiated contracts in several cities. In order to remain profitable, recycling companies are being forced to reduce paybacks to contracted municipalities or even begin charging fees.

Improve Efficiency with a WasteCaddy Dumpster Mover from DJ Products

Recycling and trash removal are cumbersome but necessary tasks for every business. Our WasteCaddy dumpster mover lets a single employee easily maneuver waste bins, even up and down inclines or across snow and ice. Visit our website and chat with our sales engineers to find the best solution for your dumpster and material handling needs.

 

Minnesota Gives Employers Up to $10,000 for Waste Safety Improvement Projects

Stacks of Ten Thousand Dollars Cash
Could You Use $10k to Improve Waste Safety?

Minnesota employers eligible to apply for OSHA’s Safety Grant Program are able to be awarded up to $10,000 to be used by employers to implement internal safety programs that aid in reducing the number of employee injuries on the job and illnesses that can arise.

The Safety Grant Program was established to help employers with the costs associated with implementing a safety program within the organization.

Projects eligible for a grant can range from addressing general internal safety factors within the organization to impacting a specific location’s safety management practices by adding special equipment like WasteCaddy dumpster movers, which are perfect for employers who strive to help employees avoid accidents on the job and reduce workers compensation claims. We’ve had customers get most of or a portion of the expense of a dumpster mover/waste caddy paid for by a grant from OSHA.

Consider that WasteCaddy dumpster pushers cut down on the number of injuries that happen when maintenance workers move dumpsters, whether it’s from the trash room to the curb or up a long incline outdoors. Using a WasteCaddy dumpster mover, employees will find the work easier, which will result in less injuries, as well as save valuable time. In many cases, a safety audit brought to light the need for ergonomic improvements to moving heavy waste bins and trash carts to prevent injury to staff. It may be time for you to take a careful look at how your staff is handling these heavy loads.

Our dumpster moving equipment can solve your company’s ergonomic needs, please contact us today for information on how DJ Products help in eliminating the on-the-job injuries associated with manual pulling and pushing of heavy dumpsters.