A common solution to a traditional dumpster rental these days is to rent a large vinyl bag that has similar proportions to a dumpster in order to save money and rental fees. There's no doubt that these bags are a great solution for many different projects from home renovations to major spring cleaning. However, this convenient option might not be the best choice in all cases, and certain scenarios might be better suited to a traditional dumpster. In order to help you make the most informed decisions, here are some pros and cons for both bag-style and traditional metal dumpsters. 

Bag-Style Dumpsters

A bag-style dumpster is for the true DIY-er in that you can often pick up one of these bags at a local hardware store yourself and then bring it home to fill with all necessary waste. Then, you just need to schedule a pickup and off goes your garbage. However, there are a couple of pitfalls to this seemingly perfect garbage removal system. First, you need to be careful about how you fill your bag, since the straps in the middle need to be able to come together so that the bag can be carried away by your waste removal company. Also, there are certain stipulations as to what you can put in these bags, such as items that aren't flammable (since the bag would melt if they caught on fire) or anything sharp that could tear the bag, like long nails or scraps of metal. 

Traditional Metal Dumpsters

A traditional dumpster rental is a bit more involved in terms of rental and scheduling, since you can't simply walk into a hardware store, pick one up, and toss it in the back of your minivan. Rather, you can schedule both a drop off and a pickup with your waste removal company and keep your hands relatively clean in terms of scheduling. The good news is that a metal bin is very much "set it and forget it" in that you can throw away pretty much whatever can fit inside the dumpster without having to worry about overfilling it so that it can't be picked up, which is the case with bag-style dumpsters. Another plus is that the list of prohibited items is often smaller than for a bag-style dumpster since the metal walls are more durable and can handle more than a vinyl bag. If you have infrequent projects that generate a lot of waste and you don't want to worry about your waste one bit, then a traditional metal dumpster is the way to go.