Dumpster ‘bags’ new for heavy trash duty

A Waste Management worker guides a Bagster full of debris into the garbage truck. The company annouced the new Bagster as an alternative to renting Dumsters.

Let’s say you’re tearing out the drywall in a couple rooms of your house. That’s a lot of wallboard, and you can’t just dump it into a bag for disposal.

Or can you? Waste Management offers a sort of supersized tarpaulin-strength, waste bags, trademarked as Bagsters, that will hold up to 3 cubic yards, 606 gallons of debris, or up to 3,300 pounds. The Bagster bag is 8 feet long by 4 feet wide by 2 feet, 6 inches tall, big enough to hold full sheets of plywood or sheetrock, doors, even a bathtub, says Waste Management.

That’s slightly smaller than common 10-yard dumpsters, which are 10 feet long by 7.5 feet wide by 4.5 feet tall. The customer buys the Bagster, about $30 to $35 at home improvement stores, and sets it up at Waste Management’s regular collection point from the property, and then fills the bag for collection.

The fee for disposal is $99. A 10-yard dumpster may rent for between $200 and $300 for two-week period, including hauling and disposal.

The customer must call to request the collection, and live in an area serviced by Waste Management. That doesn’t include all of Collier and Lee counties, so it’s best to check here before you buy one: www.thebagster.com

The Bagster does have some limitations: The type of debris is limited to no more than 1 cubic yard of heavy debris. Additional heavy materials may result in a higher charge. There are also some restrictions on where the heavier materials need to be placed in the bin. And as with other collection devices, there are some hazardous wastes it can’t take, and yard waste is not accepted in some areas.

It’s an option for mixed-waste remodeling, however. The company is publicizing it with a $10,000 home-improvement giveaway open to people who enter on the website.