Did you know that if you took a handful of soil, the number of organisms in that one handful would be larger than the total population of humans on earth. Soil is such an important part of our lives and we don't notice it as much as we should. Dry land only represents 25% of the earths surface and only 7.5% of the earths surface contains soil to use in growing staple crops, fruit, and other agricultural products used to feed earths population.
This begs the question, what if I have extra dirt or soil that I want out of my hands, what should I do? Luckily for you, this blog post goes through all the different ways that you can dispose or reuse leftover dirt.
Before you plan on disposing your dirt, you should check with your local government in order to see if you need a soil test to check for contaminated soil. This is especially recommended, even needed for construction projects due to different legal codes that require a soil examination for the project to be signed off by the government.
Disposal
When it comes to straight up disposing your dirt, you have a variety of options at your fingertips which include dumpster rentals, junk haulers and land fills, each with their advantages and disadvantages.
Dumpster rentals are great for those who prefer to work on their own schedule, those who prefer flexibility and have a lot of dirt to throw away. You get the benefit of flexibility since most dumpster rental companies offer various dumpster rental periods meaning you can spread out your work instead of having to get everything ready all in one day. This is especially beneficial if you have a lot of dirt to throw away because there aren't many people who want to spend a whole day moving dirt around.
Make sure that you first ask your dumpster rental vendor if it is okay to dispose of dirt because some might not take it due to overweight issues and/or issues with contaminated soil. If the dumpster rental vendors are unable to help out with disposing of dirt, they usually know a place or two to dispose so it doesn't hurt to ask for advice.
Some junk haulers provide services to take your dirt for you, just call them up, schedule a date, pay and point to the pile to remove. These are great for those of us who are too busy to do all that work by ourselves, however it does come at a price. In general, junk haulers do charge considerably more for the same volume of space since they also provide the labor along with the hauling. So if you're planning on hauling a lot of dirt, either come with a large check or find another option that can save you money.
The last option, which is considerably cheaper, consists of taking your dirt to a local landfill. You will need to provide both the labor and transportation for the disposal, meaning you will have to move it from your property to the landfill. The main costs associated with this option include a small disposal fee, a truck to transport the dirt which you might either have or can rent from Home Depot or Menards, and of course, your time. This is a considerably cheaper option than the first two options but require more effort from you.
Recycling/Reuse
There are plenty of options other than disposing of your dirt, specifically recycling or reusing it.
If you plan on personally reusing your dirt you have a few options, one focusing on gardening and the other on general landscaping. Usually if you have a smaller amount of dirt, then you might want to use that towards gardening since it won't be enough to really change your landscaping situation. You can use that old dirt in your garden by either composting it with your other household waste for nutrient rich soil, or you can use it as a top layer for your garden instead of clay and sand. You can even reuse that composted soil for potted plants if you don't have a garden but love flowers.
If gardening is not your thing and if you have a significant amount of dirt to reuse, then you might want to look at integrating it into your landscaping. If you want to spice up your front or back yard, you can try making a nice mound of land to help add some dimension to the land.
Other than reusing that dirt for self use, you can donate it or sell it to a local landscaping company. If you want, you could place it by your street and advertise as "free dirt", but that is messy and who really wants to pick up dirt from someone's driveway. So if you're not having any luck in getting rid of it, you can just take it to a local landscaping company who might have a better use for it. You are more likely to give it as a donation rather than getting paid for it, so don't expect to sell that dirt for much.
Here at Trashbox, we provide smart solutions to get rid of your unwanted trash. We don't charge any extra fees for delivery or pickup, and take care of taxes with simple flat rates. Located in Downers Grove, we opened up in the beginning of 2021 during a world wide pandemic, and fought to offer competitive dumpster rental rates, a world class support team here to offer advice and help, and quality service from our drivers. Call (630)450-3960 to get a free quote for you next dumpster rental.