Big Sack VS Dumpster - What should I choose for my waste removal?

Renovation or construction work often generates a significant amount of waste. The construction sector is responsible for most of the waste generated in the canton of Vaud. Whether it is rubble, slabs, earth, concrete, furniture or other bulky items, it is not always easy to know how to evacuate and recycle non-household waste. The prices of dumpster rentals and disposal services also suffer from a certain lack of transparency. In this article, we will try to shed some light on the different waste removal services available to you.

Most frequent types of waste

There are many cases where a waste removal service can be useful. For professionals, it will often be waste from renovation or construction work. For individuals, the cases are more diverse. The production of non-household waste may be related to a move, or to renovation or maintenance work. The types of waste can be separated into two broad categories:

Hazardous waste

In practice, hazardous waste represents only a very small part of the waste generated in Switzerland. Nevertheless, its toxic nature requires special handling. The Canton of Vaud has issued a series of directives on this subject. Dangerous or special waste includes in particular :

• Used solvents
• Chemical products
• Mineral oils
• Batteries and rechargeable batteries
• Paints and sprays (including used containers such as paint cans)
• Expired medications
• Special waste from the health sector
• Asbestos

This type of waste must in principle be collected by a disposal company authorized by the canton. We will go into more detail on special waste in a separate article.

Non-hazardous waste

Fortunately, non-hazardous waste makes up the vast majority of waste generated by construction companies and households. Waste removal services such as Big Sack are able to handle the following types of waste:

• Inerts (rubble, slabs, tiles, bricks, gravel etc.)
• Garden waste (soil, branches, leaves etc.)
• Concrete
• Clean wood
• Incinerable and bulky waste
• Waste to be sorted
• Scrap meta

Overview of waste disposal services

There are basically five ways to dispose of construction waste or bulky items:

Doing it yourself

Non-household waste can to a certain extent be collected and processed by the municipal waste disposal centers. However, in the case of large quantities of waste or bulky items, it can be difficult to transport these items to the waste disposal center yourself. Even if you have a large vehicle, several trips are sometimes necessary, not to mention that the vehicle can quickly get dirty in the process. Furthermore, waste disposal centers are not able to accept a certain amount of waste from renovation or gardening work, such as rubble, slabs, bricks, earth, concrete, etc.

Communal waste disposal services

Some communes in the canton of Vaud still offer a waste disposal service to their residents. This service is perfectly suited to bulky items, but you will have to adapt to the municipal schedule to get rid of your waste shortly before collection. Here again, certain types of waste such as rubble, slabs, bricks, tiles or earth cannot be collected.

Construction dumpster

A dumpster is a simple way to store waste and to have it removed once the dumpster is full. This solution is adapted to any type of waste, but is relatively expensive in particular for small to medium size sites. Indeed, this solution is associated with non-negligible fixed costs. The service provider will have to invoice two trips to drop off the skip and to collect it once it is full. The client will also have to pay the rental fees for the dumpster and any costs related to the request for authorization to store the dumpster on the public street. In addition, some construction sites may have access problems so that the storage of a dumpster may be impossible. However, this solution remains the ideal alternative in a certain number of cases, in particular for construction sites generating a significant volume of waste.

Manual disposal service ("Man & Van")

Some companies propose to evacuate your waste in the manner of a removal, by calling upon a large utility vehicle or a large van. This solution is typically adapted to the removal of bulky items, but has its limits when dealing with waste such as rubble, earthworks, tiles, soil etc. The service can also be expensive because workers will have to collect your bulky items and pick them up one by one, as would be the case for a move.

Big Bag Collection Services

Big Bag collection services such as Big Sack are very popular in the Nordic and Anglo-Saxon countries, and this is logical. The advantages are multiple. Big Bags can be sent directly to the customer by post and serve the same function as a dumpster.

Once unpacked, the Big Bag can contain between 1m3 and 3m3 of waste, which makes it a versatile container that can hold any type of waste. It is of course possible to store several Big Bags on the same site in case of important quantity of waste. The Big Bags can also hold up to 1.5 tons of waste and are therefore suitable for the collection of heavy waste such as slabs or bricks.

For craftsmen, this solution also offers a number of advantages in terms of flexibility. By having a Big Bag in his vehicle at all times, the craftsman does not need to organize the supply of a dumpster and can unpack his bag at any time to start filling it and order a pick-up as soon as it is full.

Finally, the solution has an undeniable financial appeal. Unlike a dumpster, the collection truck only needs to make one trip to pick up the Big Bag, as opposed to two for a dumpster (deposit of the dumpster and collection).

Since the bags are picked up by a crane truck, they can often be stored on a terrace, a garden or a driveway, which avoids having to pay the municipal taxes charged when a dumpster is stored on the public street.

Do you have any questions?

You have any questions, or you wish to call upon our services? Do not hesitate to contact us by email at info@bigsack.ch or by phone at +41 21 218 98 00