Most of it can go in the bin. Here's the list for the rest.

Why we're strict about a list most companies mumble through

Our quotes are flat — the price, the weight allowance, and the 7 days are stated before the truck moves. That only works if the load is clean when it hits the landfill scale. A paint can or a fridge buried in an otherwise honest load can get the whole bin flagged, sorted, surcharged, or turned around — and a company that shrugged when you asked "can this go in?" is a company planning to pass that bill along later. This page is us not shrugging. Three lists, no fine print.

Green light: load it and don't call anybody

• Furniture and general junk — couches, dressers, shelving, toys, boxes of garage archaeology, the exercise bike that became a coat rack. This is what roll-offs were born for.
• Wood and lumber — deck boards, fence pickets, framing offcuts, pallets, cabinets and trim. Nails and screws still attached are fine; nobody's pulling them.
• Drywall and plaster — remodel debris is welcome, just remember it's heavier than it looks. The weight allowances listed with each bin size exist for exactly this reason.
• Carpet, pad, and flooring — roll it, cut it into strips you can actually lift, and lay it flat so it doesn't tent up and steal half the bin.
• Yard debris — brush, limbs, shrubs, sod in reasonable amounts, the hedge that lost the argument. Whole trees and root balls are a different conversation, so give us a heads-up on those — same rule as on our residential page.

Call first: legal, but with an asterisk

• Mattresses and box springs. Allowed here, but they're volume thieves — springy, un-crushable, and light. One or two on a cleanout is routine. An estate job with six of them changes which bin you need, and we'd rather size that honestly on the phone than discover it at pickup.
• Appliances. Washers, dryers, stoves, dishwashers — usually fine, and often better off at a scrap-metal recycler anyway. Anything with refrigerant — fridges, freezers, window AC units, dehumidifiers — is federal territory: EPA rules require a certified technician to recover the refrigerant before disposal. Get it recovered and tagged, or route it to an appliance drop-off. Either way, tell us it exists.
• Tires. Landfills hate them — buried tires trap air and work their way back up through the trash for decades — so they can't ride in a mixed load. Benton County's special-waste drop-off sites take tires; on the Washington County side, call the district and they'll point you to the current option.
• TVs, monitors, and electronics. Old tube TVs carry several pounds of leaded glass, which is why nobody wants them buried. Benton County's special-waste sites accept electronics; Washington County residents can check with the Boston Mountain district for the current e-waste route. If one's lurking in a cleanout, mention it — we'll tell you whether to pull it.
• Concrete, dirt, brick, and shingles. These aren't prohibited — they're a whole different physics problem. Dense material hits the weight limit long before it fills the bin, which is why it runs on fill lines and tonnage pricing instead of volume. The math lives on our heavy debris page; read it before you swing the sledgehammer.

Hard no: never in the bin — ours or anyone's

• Paint, stains, and solvents — liquid anything, including "it's almost empty."
• Batteries — car, lithium, rechargeable, the drawer of mystery AAs. Lithium packs are a genuine fire risk in a load being compacted.
• Propane tanks — even the ones that feel empty. Pressurized cylinders and compaction equipment do not negotiate.
• Chemicals, pesticides, pool chemicals, motor oil, and automotive fluids — anything that pours, fumes, or has a skull on the label.
• Asbestos — suspect material in pre-1980s demo (old floor tile, pipe wrap, some siding) needs testing and licensed abatement, not a roll-off. If you're gutting an older NWA house and aren't sure, stop and ask before you cut.

Where the no-list actually goes in Northwest Arkansas

Most pages stop at "we can't take it," which is about as useful as a locked door with no address on it. Here's where this stuff really goes:

• Washington County (Fayetteville, Springdale side): the Boston Mountain Solid Waste District runs a household hazardous waste center at 11398 Bond Road in Prairie Grove — paint, chemicals, batteries, and fluorescent bulbs in residential quantities, with a small per-gallon charge for latex paint (a couple of dollars at last check). The district also lists satellite drop-off points, including Fayetteville and Springdale locations. Check their current hours before you drive out.
• Benton County (Rogers, Bentonville side): the county runs special-waste drop-off sites that take household chemicals, paint, batteries, and bulbs — plus the awkward stuff like electronics, tires, and appliances. Locations and hours are kept current at BentonCountyRecycles.org.

Ten minutes of errand, and your bin stays boring — which, in the waste business, is the highest compliment there is.

What happens if the wrong thing goes in anyway

Most of the mixed loads we haul from the four cities end up at the region's Class 1 landfill in Tontitown. When a prohibited item turns up there, the polite version is a sorting delay and a surcharge; the impolite version is a rejected load that has to be dealt with somewhere else — on somebody's dime, with somebody's afternoon. Brokers and call centers handle this by burying the risk in vague fine print and billing you when it lands. We handle it by telling you the rules up front, in writing, on the same site where the prices live. If you're genuinely not sure about an item, that's what the phone is for — the answer is free and takes less time than reading this paragraph did.

The five we get asked most

• Can food waste go in? A little, incidental to a cleanout, sure. A commercial volume of it, no — roll-offs aren't garbage service.
• Treated lumber? Yes — old deck boards and fence posts ride with regular C&D debris here.
• A hot water heater? Yes — no refrigerant in a standard tank unit, so it's just heavy scrap. Tell us if there are several.
• Railroad ties? Call first. Creosote makes some loads unwelcome, and the answer depends on quantity.
• The mystery cans on Grandpa's shelf? Hard no until identified. When in doubt, it goes to the county program, not the bin.