Renovating your home can create a lot of waste, especially if you end up with perfectly usable leftovers like half cans of paint or individual pieces of lumber. If you want to do your part for the environment and make sure these materials get reused instead of dumped in a landfill, you can take a few different steps to ensure everything that can be used is used.

Talk To Your Dumpster Rental Company About Recycling Options

Your dumpster rental company likely have a procedure for helping ensure that as much of your waste is recycled as possible, but you should talk to the company before you begin renovating. In some cases, you may need to use multiple rental dumpsters and sort what you throw away according to the rental guidelines. In other cases, the waste company will handle the sorting on their end and you can simply dispose of your debris like normal.

This green solution should be reserved for the waste from your project that can't possibly be reused by an average person. Broken glass, chunks of concrete, or pieces of metal are all examples of the kind of recyclable material you should let a waste company handle.

Old fixtures, doors, sheet metal, leftover paint, or unused lumber, on the other hand, can be reused by other people without too much effort, so you should set these aside and handle giving them away on your own.

Let Others Come Take Debris Away

Do-it-yourself projects are increasingly popular as people seek new, frugal ways to express their creativity and add to their homes. However, these projects can be unfeasible if you have to buy all of the parts at retail prices. As a result, people interested in making something new will often look online for their materials, and you can use this to your advantage.

In just 20 minutes or so, you can make a post to the free section of online classifieds with a photo of your unwanted construction materials and a written list to entice those looking for free stuff. DIY hopefuls and contractors will likely show up to your home on the same day to look through your waste materials and take what they want. If you also advertise your leftover items on multiple websites, you can ensure that the bulk of your reusable waste goes to people who will turn it into something valuable.

Best of all, you don't need to be home for people to help you out. You can just put up a simple "take what you want" sign and watch the pile of waste shrink over the next couple of days.

Contact Local Charities To Pick Up Old Materials

If you still have obviously reusable materials after a couple of days go by, it might be time to schedule a pickup with Habitat for Humanity or a similar charity in your area. These constructions charities get a lot of work done thanks to volunteers and donated materials, so they'll happily come and haul away anything they can salvage or resell to pay operating costs.

The one drawback of relying on a charity to help take away recyclable materials is that you may have to wait much longer than if you just threw the stuff away. Volunteers have to be available at the same time and with the right vehicle before they can come to haul your stuff away, so it can take several days before pickup is organized. Still, it's worth waiting if the waste goes to a good cause, right?

If you plan with your waste disposal company ahead of time and put the word out about remaining materials after the project is over, you should be able to recycle almost all of the reusable waste from your construction project. Won't it be great when, on top of all of the work you put into your project, you can feel doubly proud when you look back and think about how environmentally responsible you were during the cleanup?

If you have more questions about removing your construction debris, contact a local waste remocal company like ESP Dumpsters & Waste Services.