BMP Blast: Dumpster Covers

Contaminated water that runs into natural streams and river can be very harmful for the biodiversity of an ecosystem and all of the plants and animals in it. There are many different sources and ways that water can become contaminated, and one specific way is from dumpsters, and the waste in those dumpsters. Many commercial dumpsters have a plastic lid that flips up and down to cover the waste. However, a lid is not necessarily as commonly seen on construction site dumpsters. In this month’s BMP Blast, we will discuss the importance of covers on construction site dumpsters.
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All construction sites have some sort of dumpster on the site to dispose waste. This waste can range anywhere from crushed concrete, paint cans, oil containers, old batteries, whatever people throw in there. Contained in a dumpster setting, this waste can not cause much harm to the environment around it. However, if water finds its way into the dumpster, the water is able to wash contaminates off of the waste and out of the dumpster. Additionally, when the dumpster gets picked up and removed, the driver will not want to haul away something filled with water, so the water may be dumped out. All of that water being dumped could contain chemicals, and all of the water and chemicals will reach the nearby stream all at the same time, and this could be very harmful. There is a simple solution to prevent this type of pollution from happening; dumpster covers.

Dumpster covers are a simple best management practice that can be put on top of a dumpster to ensure unwanted rain doesn’t seep into the dumpster and washout any chemicals. Covers are fairly low cost, easy to manage, and provide a very large benefit that prevents any type of mess or disaster for the environment and ecosystems. We realize that it is convenient to have an open dumpster that waste can be thrown into at any time of the day, and a cover may be annoying to open every single time something needs to be disposed of. A simple solution would be to ensure that the cover is on only at the end of each workday and before any rain event starts. The dumpster can remain uncovered during the day, and covered at night and during rain, and this would provide an effective cover to contain pollutants. By using this simple BMP on construction site dumpsters, we can ensure that the project stays in compliance with regulations, and we can ensure the site doesn’t contribute any harmful pollutants to the neighboring environment.
 
If you have any questions regarding dumpster covers, or any other construction site BMP, please feel free to reach out to our office at (513) 695-1337. 

~Article by Seth Byerly, Urban Technician