A recent journey to the dump left us 1.5 metric tons lighter and with a clean job site too. In exchange we had a bill for a mere $130 for the pleasure of dropping that hefty load of crap. But what was the true cost of the garbage? It represents the off cuts of perhaps $50,000 of useful raw material, plus the associated packaging and debris. What would be interesting would have been to have weighed all the delivered product to date and then take the 1.5 ton of trash as a % of the total. Have we installed 15 ton of product, or 30? If we spent 50k on stuff, and it weighed 30 ton, that indicates the trash value would have been $2500. The stuff inside the bin, particularly the engineered product off cuts and the wood waste was really valuable. Of course once cut, the bits left over are nothing but pricey trash. Despite the reality that the stuff in the bin is in the bin because it is useless enough that someone wants to pay to get rid of it, it still hurts a lot. Is there some way to reduce wastage, deliver precisely sized material so cuts are eliminated, recycle more, or burn clean wood? Perhaps there is but those tactics will be less satisfying that dropping off a heavy load at the dump and leaving an empty bin behind to refill with trash from the next stages of the build.
1.5 ton of trash slides out the dump trailer. It cost us likely a couple thousand to fill the bin, but only $130 to dump it. Is it worth the time, fuel, effort and cost to have a truck and trailer just to be able to haul around some trash? Bin rental and hauling can add up to be a serious cost by the end of a project if not managed carefully. The builder will end up hauling air to the dump when it is filled poorly, or losing valuable material that should never have been trashed in the first place.